From Ashes (SYOC)
by Kiyuyuri
Summary: Driven to near extinction by an apocalyptic flood of utter death, we finally regain our footing, and like a phoenix reborn after death, we shall rise from ashes. SYOC MOSTLY CLOSED, MOSTLY
1. Prologue Setting

**NOW HOLD YOUR PANIC! I'm not dropping either Ruin or ATWA so no need to worry, this story is more of an experiment than anything really. Well, I say experiment, its more of a daydream that I've had for years, since I was like what, 15-ish? Chuunibyou for 8 years and still going strong! ^.^ Anywho, I wanted to try and see how interesting it'd be as a story and I've also been wanting to do a school setting for a while now. You might find this story to be kinda Final Fantasy like. Actually, it could probably actually be an FF game but oh well. I kinda feel like this is somewhat copying Shin's new story even though I've had the idea for a while but never put it to fruit but eh, a story is a story ^.^ At the very least, the plot probably wont be the same ^.^**

Setting: In the year 2052, militarized exoskeletons, or "Exos" for short, were developed and became the staple for warfare fitted with every weapon one could dream of.

In the year 2087, a form of energy dubbed Mana due to its blue aura-like physical form when harnessed that bore a striking resemblance to the common depiction of the similarly named energy popular in video games, was discovered to exist in all living beings, in varying amounts. This newfound energy was found to be exceedingly powerful in substantial amounts, approximately 4 times the power output of nuclear power, the then predominant supply of electricity and power. However, though present in all living beings, it was negligible in 90% of the population, both human or otherwise, useless for most purposes, with only a small handful of individuals with substantial amounts of the energy which would be usable if harnessed. Many countries considered its possible use as a new power source, however, such study was forbidden in the name of human and animal rights.

However, research on the new energy and its potential still continued, namely how it came to be, how it was produced in living beings and also how it could be harnessed and used, as without a way of harnessing it from the body, it was virtually useless. The world's scientists also sought to create Mana artificially, but this endeavor was going nowhere yet research still continued due to its possibilities. By this time, much of the world had been ravaged by humanity, with resources plummeting and much of the world was no more than a wasteland. Oceans had dried up, the only forest in the world remaining was considered an invaluable treasure, majority of wildlife species had become extinct, water was only gathered from the artificial inducement of rain. Yet humanity continued to press forward with its greed. Finally, this greed became its undoing.

In the year 2112, a groundbreaking (quite literally) discovery was made, having been hidden in an underground chamber, deep beneath the earth that had once been the Pacific Ocean. The ground had split apart from a massive energy spike, big enough that it fried half the monitoring instruments in existence and caused blackouts worldwide, creating a gigantic chasm, the size of an entire city, right in the middle of the dead ocean. The first investigators of the scene found an azure crystal pylon, the color of the sky when it had actually been clear all those years ago, floating in the center of the chasm. The crystal was found to be filled with compressed Mana, with the energy readings completely immeasurable. It was also the first non-living source of the life energy, and thus shot the study on Mana as a power source light-years ahead. World War 5 broke out over control of the crystal, until humanity almost killed itself out, depleting the then population of 15 billion to a mere billion remaining. As such, an international outfit, drawing on the brightest minds remaining in every nation, was created, the International Science Division. This new outfit was given the freedom of being free from any national ties, and were given the exclusive access to the crystal to study it as well as to be the sole neutral party in possession of the greatest treasure in existence.

A year into the research, a breakthrough was made when the crystal actually started _communicating_ with the scientists. The crystal, then named Heaven's Aegis, seemed to be a benevolent being, claiming to be one of the original sources of life, having observed humanity for millennia, and now in the twilight of its destruction, sought to save its creation. Of course, the scientists were skeptical, as it seemed too good to be true. However, Heaven's Aegis proved itself by revealing secrets of Mana that the scientists could never have hoped to discover in their lifetime and succeeded in making Mana a usable energy. The being continued to offer insight of how to use Mana, and ways it could be harnessed. However, somewhere along the way, Heaven's Aegis slipped something into the gifts of information that it bestowed on humanity. Humanity realized too late that the being of their salvation was not a being at all, but a communication line…. And a gate.

No one knows how it happened, as none of the on site research team survived, although their research would serve to allow humanity to live on borrowed time.

September 19, 2113. _So He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground: both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air._ (Yeah, I quoted the bible, lel) The Flood, as it would come to be known, happened without warning, and without mercy. Humanity, already weakened by their own wars stood no chance. The Daemons exploded across the Earth, like the biblical apocalyptic flood, slaughtering anything and everything that breathed life. Daemons came in all shapes and sizes, some deceptively beautiful beyond compare, others hideous enough to stop a man's heart with appearance alone. Somehow, these horrific creatures were unleashed on the world in legions. The Daemons were found to be beings of large amounts of Mana, yet capable of biologically harnessing and using it, without the need of technology. Some say we opened the gates of Hell. Others believed it to be the Wrath of God, finally having enough of his failed creations. Regardless, the result was the same. Humanity was at its end.

However, somehow, before the last enclaves of men could fall, salvation was rendered. New scientists of the ISD, using the notes of the original Mana research team, were able to create a breakthrough invention in the form of The Shields. The Shields were installed into the last 7 remaining major cities on the planet, Neo-Tokyo, Glasgow, Beijing, Moscow, Stockholm, Chicago and Sydney. What The Shields are, are basically massive domes that cover the entirety of each city, including into the ground under it, with a radius that could be manually set which resulted in varying power consumption. The Shields have been officially revealed to run on the first artificially created Mana source and only reacted to Mana, thus only affecting living beings. The Shields worked in the way one would overload an electrical device. Should any Mana come in contact with it, it would cause the Shield's Mana to overload the foreign Mana past the body's physical limit thus destroying the body.

Therefore, the 7 remaining cities became the final bastions of humanity's survival, housing a total of a mere 100 000 people. However, not wishing to repeat their past mistakes and to serve as a reminder of how humanity had almost brought about its own destruction, the cities were renamed into the 7 Deadly Sins, Wrath, Pride, Lust, Gluttony, Envy, Greed, Lust and Sloth. Each city started to rebuild themselves, eventually achieving a state of utopia within the domes, having a standard of living even superior to that of just before The Flood. The Daemons now continues to hunt down the tiny handfuls of survivors outside the walls as Daemons are found to consume Mana. Occasionally, lucky survivors stumble across one of the 7 cities. Usually they are let in to join the labor force unless there are compelling reasons not to. Yet, there is no such thing as a true utopia. Slums of refugees still exist. People who come from outside the domes since the formation of The Sins, as the cities came to be collectively known, are treated as Pariah and dirt, an extreme caste system having been invoked. Approximately only 20% of the population are refugees, yet there is extreme xenophobia in every city, the original citizens and their descendants fearing that the refugees would take over.

In the year 2182, a military breakthrough was made, when scientists found a way to use Mana on Exos, resulting in the creation of immensely powerful Exos. Exos would directly draw power from the user's Mana and its power would be proportionate to the amount of Mana the user possesses. However, as mentioned before, only 10% of the original population had enough Mana to be of any use. Therefore, all citizens were screened to find the new wearers of Humanity's new weapon against the tide of Daemons that are constantly clawing on our doorstep, wanting to break in and devour us all. To everyone's astonishment, while a few adults were found to be capable of using the new Exos, now ironically dubbed Aegis after the gate, half of the population below the age of 18 all possessed enough Mana to power Aegis. This resulted in a total of slightly over 6000 users of Aegis and they were named Arcs, a play on the word Ark referencing Noah's Ark as humanity's last hope during the biblical Flood. Academies were set up in every city to train the new warriors of humanity. The alumni were then distributed into numerous jobs that used Aegis and some remained to teach the future generations of Arcs.

 **Okay, that ended kinda abruptly but yeah, that's kind of the setting and I guess it serves as a pseudo-prologue although a proper prologue is gonna come right up after I list out some information on the world. Now this idea is kinda fresh out of my head seeing as how I never put that much thought into it outside of fantasizing about massacring demons in a mana driven exosuit. There should be enough info, however, to create your OC. The rest, well, as always, I'll make it up as I go along xD God I'm such an impromptu person.**

 **Just to let you guys know, the story will start in the City of Wrath, formerly Neo-Tokyo, which is the most technologically advanced city of the 7. It also has the strongest military force and majority of the story will take place here.**

 **Universe Details:**

Economy: Money still exists in the form of the dollar but all cities use the same currency so the dollar is now universal. The economy is quite similar to what you might see in a JRPG, a lot of it being made through trade between the Sins. Trade exists between cities with goods being transported on old solar-powered planes with Aegis escorts.

Aegis: Aegis is currently into its 8th generation of suits, having improvements made to its design. Originally an exosuit fitted with countless weapons, essentially creating a human tank, the suits are now something that might seem like a magic armor. As said before, Aegis is powered purely through Mana, and the more Mana the user has, the more powerful the suit will be. The universal armaments common to all Aegis units are an energy shield and dual energy blades that extend from the suit's arms. Examples of other equipment that can be used with Aegis include Mana powered guns, stealth units, optics that provide stuff like night vision, thermal, and such, cloaking units, swords/axes/ whatever melee weapon you can think of. Note that different guns and melee weapons have different energy to power ratios based on their design and purpose, which means certain weapons use up less energy to generate more power depending on their construction. Therefore, a Mana pistol is not going to be as powerful as a Mana rifle when used by the same user. Of course, the user's individual Mana comes into consideration as well. It's kinda hard to explain but when I write the first fight scene, it should be easier to understand. Also, the handheld melee weapons have the same principal as the guns when compared with the arm blades as the handheld melees refine Mana more efficiently whereas the arm blades are kind of raw. However, Aegis suits have Mana thresholds, and each suit has a limit of how much Mana it can handle before overloading. This could prevent certain users from using the full potential of their Mana, therefore, should they have exceptional Mana values, they will receive their own customized personal suits. That being said, there are numerous stock models to choose from, and their aesthetics can still be customized to the average user's liking. Now I call them suits, but they look more like a cross between the exos for Call of Duty Advanced Warfare and the mechs from Infinite Stratos. They don't typically cover the entire body, but the energy shield does. Aegis are typically designed such that there is a main back piece that houses the main thrusters, armored "gloves" that are large arms that cover the user's entire arms, a chest piece that houses the shielding unit, and finally the leg units that cover the user's legs up to their lower thighs and house additional thrusters in the boots. Basically the fundamentals in any Aegis' design. Aegis can also be installed with flight packs, allowing them to travel long distances.

Mana: Pretty self explanatory really. Worth noting however, is that Mana surges have allowed the soil to become fertile once more, thus allowing agriculture to flourish. Mana also has possible medical uses as being the energy of life itself, has been shown to have healing properties, however, scientists are still trying to figure out how to use it this way. Humans who have usable Mana are able to sense the Mana of others in varying degrees. All Mana wielders are able to tell the nature of the Mana of others but depending on how sensitive they are, can also tell certain things like a sense of the other's emotions or be able to track their Mana signature within a certain distance. The abilities are varied, so I'll let you come up with one on your own but please nothing outlandish. Finally, the use of Mana obviously depletes it. Typically Mana replenishes itself as the user rests but should Mana reserves be completely depleted, it will cause the user to wither and die. This is due to Mana literally being a being's life force, and when Mana stores are low, it will cause the body to become weak and therefore vulnerable, including to sickness. Typical symptoms of low Mana stores are a fever, exhaustion, headaches and in more extreme cases, internal bleeding and vomiting.

City Infrastructure: If you think about Chrome-Shelled-Regios, you're good to go. That's what Wrath is based on anyway. The city has an almost Victorian feel to it, yet remains extremely futuristic with monorails, hover buses and skyscrapers. However, it favors the old-style aesthetics with many fountains, parks, Victorian housing and quaint cafes. Quite hard to imagine such a place exists in the dead world. The city runs on the same power source that powers the dome and has an industrial district, in fact multiple of them, where things like machines, appliances and weapons, both Aegis and law enforcement tools, are manufactured. Then there is the equally large agricultural district where food is grown, including livestock. Large reservoirs have been dug up, filled through underground lakes that had mysteriously appeared and recycled water, to serve the water needs. The residential and recreational (including shopping) districts are tiny in comparison but perfect for the low population. The population itself is split into 4 castes in the descending order, the ruling caste (aka the filthy rich and influential, people who call the shots along with scientists, includes high-ranking members of the military), the military caste (military fighters), the working caste (everyone else including the mechanics but not the refugees) and finally the refugees.

Military: The military has numerous divisions, the main one of course being the defense force, which keeps the immediate area outside the dome relatively clear and also handles internal defense should there be any falters in The Shield, which has not happened yet. Another division is the salvage division which basically escorts salvage teams outside the city to salvage any usable materials, mostly scrap metal. There is also a mechanic division which handles Aegis maintenance. The mechanic division is crewed by those who are just barely able to use Aegis but are not proficient enough to fight in them. Many Aegis users are elitist and therefore discriminate against them although this is more evident in the Academy than anywhere else as Arcs who have seen battle know the importance of having their machine kept in good shape. Finally the last main division is the trade division, and while they aren't traders themselves, they have the most dangerous jobs out of the main divisions as they have to keep the trade routes between cities clear and therefore have to travel extremely far away from their cities. They are also used as escorts for trading shipments.

Academy: This one is important, because atm, I'm only accepting students/teachers at the academy. The school is kinda typical for this kind of genre, you know, animes like Seiken Tsukai no World Break, Infinite Stratos, Absolute Duo, yeah you get the idea. The age group of students have relatively evened out and now students are accepted when they turn 15, where they study till 18. Typical high school stuff. Subjects include theory on Mana, how Aegis works, how to combat Daemons, practicals on how to operate Aegis, along with many others. The students are split into 3 classes, Platinum, Diamond and Obsidian. Platinum students are students who have low but usable amounts of Mana, usually ending up as mechanics or barely capable of combat. Diamond are the middle class, their abilities are quite varied and quite a number tend to be very talented and have high amounts of Mana, in short you could have very powerful Diamonds but at the same time, Diamonds who are barely stronger than Platinums. Obsidian is a special class, for those with either extremely good family connections or those with exceptional Mana power. Those in this class are always on the fast track to high places in society. However, those who get into Obsidian through sheer power instead connections typically become strong enough to even go toe to toe with Daemon Lords(What they are, you'll find out eventually but just know they are very, very powerful.)

Daemons: It is widely assumed that they are actual demons from hell but what is actually scientifically known about them is that they are beings capable of naturally harnessing their Mana through biological means and also capable of inter-dimensional travel. Whether or not they truly are servants of the Devil is unknown, however they do fit the aesthetics depicted in our depictions of demons. They survive through the consumption of the Mana in other living beings, and are capable of cannibalism should there be no other food source, however, they always prefer devouring others instead of other Daemons. Daemons have countless forms and some can even take on human forms. However, their Mana signatures cannot be disguised so those with the ability to sense Mana will see through this disguise easily. Daemons also have their own caste system although it is more vague than that of humans. Lesser demons are basically the minions, greater demons are sort of like mob bosses or elite units. Then there are the Daemon Lords who are exceedingly powerful Daemons, far more powerful than most of the Arcs. Only the best of the best Arcs are able to fight them on equal footing and even then, their Mana stores are far greater than any human, giving them the advantage in drawn out fights. Finally, there are rumors of Daemon Gods, who wield godlike powers unparalleled by any other. None have been seen by any human to our knowledge, however, certain evidences have arisen that hint at their existence, however, anything known on them is pure speculation. Lesser demons can be killed by conventional weapons such as a normal gun, however, it takes a lot of firepower to take them down. Greater demons and above are all immune to such means, only being susceptible to Mana based attacks. This is due to Daemons having infused Mana into their skin and flesh, acting as a natural armor.

 **Okay then, I think that's about it, if I remember something I left out, I'll include it at the start of the first chapter, and should that happen, feel free to message me any changes you wish to make to your character ^.^ Okay, now for my OC, keep in mind, I'm omitting quite a bit of his information as it would be spoilers to what I have planned. At the same time, don't let make your character have any past relations to him prior to his coming to the school as he's supposed to just pop up out of nowhere. Rest assured, I will include enough info for your OC to have an opinion on him :) On another note, HOLY SHIT, KIYU IS ACTUALLY MAKING A BOY CHARACTER! Well sort of hahaha**

 **General:**

 **Name** – Skye Farris

 **Aliases/Nicknames** – Imouto-Chan (By his sister)

 **Gender-** Hideyoshi (If you don't get it, you need to watch Baka to Test haha Look it up though)

 **Age-** 15

 **Occupation (Student or Teacher)-** Platinum Student

 **Sexuality** – Heterosexual

 **Nationality** – Outside the Walls

 **Ethnicity** – Japanese (His name was given to him by his adoptive sister)

 **Appearance** – Skye was bestowed with an exceedingly beautiful appearance, however, for the wrong gender. He has an extremely feminine appearance as well as build (minus the boobs of course xD) causing him to regarded as more attractive as a female than majority of actual females. He has light brown hair that can be compared to a creamy caramel, with the sides falling to his chin. The back part of his hair is very slightly longer than his sides and his hair is semi-straight, making it look like he'd just run his fingers through it. His bangs fall messily right above his eyes, while the sides of his bangs are the longest parts of his hair, framing his face and falling slightly below his chin. At times, he can also be seen tying up some of his hair on the right side into a high pigtail. His skin is flawless, possessing a bright creamy complexion that many would kill for. He has small doll-like lips that are slightly plump in the center with clearly defined lip lines as well as a small dainty nose. His jawline is completely undefined while his cheeks are rosy and eye-catching and his chin a sharp feminine point. Further adding to his girly image is the fact that he has a slim and even slightly curvy (minus boobs) body with small shoulders and a pronounced collarbone while he stands at 5'2''. His voice is soft, feminine and slightly melodic but not exactly high-pitched. He sounds more like a girl trying to do a boy's voice more than anything. His voice does get high-pitched at times, however, particularly when he's trying to do voices or when he gets exasperated or frustrated. In contrast to the rest of his delicate, almost angelic appearance, are his black eyes, dark and cold. Despite being able to look innocent, even vulnerable at times, his eyes typically hold a hardened and distant look, making him seem unapproachable.

 **Outfits-**

Casualwear-

Outfit 1- A grey sleeveless hoodie over a black tank top as well as ripped acid faded jeans with grey high-top sneakers.

Outfit 2- A black t-shirt with a skull print and the words "Kill Me" underneath it with grey sweat pants and black and yellow running shoes.

Okay the next 3 outfits are forced upon him by his sister after he lost some kind of bet to her, much to his chagrin. He hates wearing them but is bound by his promise to do so. Thus, he has to wear them at least 3 times a week and each one has to be worn at least once

Outfit 3- A short-sleeved girl's hoodie over nothing with denim shorts that are slightly torn at the edges with pink sneakers. A variation of this outfit has him wearing thigh high socks or full leggings and his shoes are changed to boots.

Outfit 4- A light blue crop top revealing his mid-section with dark blue skinny jeans that emphasize the shape of his legs and butt as well as sneakers

The full trap outfit (He absolutely detests this one. Oh yeah, this one's based on Nagisa's crossdress xD)- A short sleeved off shoulder top over a red plaid skirt with black thigh high socks that are strapped to rings under his skirt. For shoes, he is forced to wear a pair of black pink-rimmed women's boots.

Schoolwear- He wears the school uniform in a sloppy way, with the blazer unbuttoned and the shirt untucked. However, he has not made any actual alterations to his uniform to achieve any particular look. When he first entered the Academy(Which I have yet to name and would like suggestions T.T), he was given a girl's uniform but that was crossing the line for him and he demanded to be given a boy's uniform. Still, the girl's uniform is still in his possession as the school let him have it, or rather made him take it as well.

Sleepwear- He wears a loose t-shirt over a pair of sports shorts to sleep

Winterwear- He wears a long beige coat that covers everything down to his thighs with a long sleeved thermal shirt underneath. He also wears a pair of thermal leggings under his light blue jeans as well as black combat boots. He also typically has snow gloves and a beanie on.

 **Advantages** – High resistance to heat (He loves heat and can even wear a jacket under the sun), never sweats (Well he does but rarely and when he does, you can't tell), calm and rational, Is extremely intelligent, Is an amazing cook, Has a gift for doing voices, Gorgeous to the point that it's unfair, Basically immune to spicy food, Surprisingly physically fit, skilled in sewing

 **Disadvantages** – Can't stand the cold, His appearance causes him to constantly be caught in weird and awkward situations, Slightly airheaded, Causes girls to be jealous of his looks, attracts the lust of boys even though he is straight, well, 90% of the school refuses to believe he is a boy, can't resist cute animals, antisocial, introverted

 **Hobbies** – He enjoys doing voices, like voicing certain characters or even imitating other people, he can do a convincing boy's voice but it takes a strain on his vocal chords so he cant use it as his regular voice. In contrast, he finds it easier to do female voices but the extremes can cause strain as well. He also enjoys cooking, reading and watching anime (Well, it maybe 200 years into a future and after the end of the world but it's still Tokyo! Anime will never die!)

 **Likes** – Animals, solitude, tasty food, not being mistaken for a girl, not being treated like a girl, at the same time, he does somewhat enjoy being taken for a girl, card games and board games, lazing around, sleeping, reading, anime, looking at anime-based drawings, slacking off class, putting the school elitists in their place, slaughtering, yeah not even killing, SLAUGHTERING Daemons, gym class

 **Dislikes** – Being mistaken for a girl, being confessed to, being the subject of lust, bugs, elitists, bullies, Daemons, having to sit through theory classes, being made to draw (as much as he loves drawings, he cant draw himself to save his life), being forced to wear girl's clothes, Rude people in general, collecting trading cards (Yeah the new world still has trading cards although they are now holo-cards)

 **Favorite Food** \- Shabu Shabu (Japanese steamboat)

 **Least Favorite Food** -

 **Favorite Music Genres-** Fast paced anime music, pop rock, J-core, punk rock

 **Personality** – This is probably gonna have quite a bit omitted, due to keeping some of Skye a secret for the story. His personality has been heavily influenced by his past, hardening him and turning him into a sort of sardonic individual. He is a calm and collected individual, rarely losing his composure even under great stress. Ironically, however, he does tend to overreact and flip out whenever he gets mistaken for a girl, that is to say, just about everytime he interacts with someone. Skye is also sociopathic, showing no emotion at all when fighting or hurting others, however, he secretly enjoys it, showing psychopathic tendencies. He is not above hurting innocents, including killing them, to achieve goals, however, he does try to avoid it as much as possible and even when resorting to such means, still feels that they are in distaste. He tends to be extremely sarcastic and cynical, always having some kind of sharp or witty remark ready for anything. He has an intense hatred for Daemon's due to his past, and takes great pleasure in their slaughter. He also despises bullies and elitists, who prey on those weaker than them. He also has quite a strong sense of responsibility, always taking responsibility for his actions, including his faults and never trying to shift the blame. This stems from his own sense of guilt of having been the one who brought death to everyone he cared about. This also branches out to cause him to never be able to break a promise (he almost never makes them) he makes, or go back on a bet. He is grateful to his adoptive sister for giving him his life, and is quite attached to her.

 **Habits/Quirks** – He has a habit of childishly sticking his tongue out at people he is arguing with.

 **History –** Skye was born into a village hidden in a cluster of mountains that had enjoyed decades of peace due to the mist that hid it from the outside world. His parents were but a simple baker and seamstress but they loved their child dearly. Since his birth, Skye was gifted with great beauty, rare in both men and women and he was well liked in his village, many parents hoping to have their children end up marrying him when they grew up. When Skye was 2, his parents gave him a younger sister, also similarly beautiful but not quite as much as him, whom he loved dearly as she was his first experience of looking after someone younger than him, and he enjoyed it very much, even at such a young age. The village lived in the sense of security that the mist would hide them from the Daemons forever. However, when Skye was 5, he was playing in the woods surrounding the village, when he came across a strange creature he had never seen before. The adults in the village never talked about Daemons, wishing to erase them from memory and live a simple and peaceful life. Hence, none of the children, including Skye, knew what Daemons were. The Daemon he encountered looked like a pretty woman, but her skin was covered in scales, and her glowing amber eyes possessing slit pupils, like a reptile's. She seemed to have spikes growing out of her elbows and her feet were heavily clawed. Yet, she reached out to Skye with such gentle hands, begging him for help. As Skye looked closer, he saw that the creature had a ragged hole in her side, oozing a purple liquid he could only assume was her blood. Though somewhat wary, he felt that he could not simply leave the creature to its fate. As such, he led the creature back to his village, in hopes that the village doctor could tend to her wounds. However, upon sight of the creature, the town panicked, his parents screaming for him to get away from her as the townsfolk gathered weapons ranging from guns, to axes, even to pitchforks. Skye tried to calm them down, completely unaware of what he had just brought to the village, but as he turned to point at the creature's wound, he gasped upon seeing that it had completely disappeared, leaving only dried stain of purple blood where it had been. The creature was now smiling cruelly as a pair of webbed wings, covered in razor sharp talons spread behind her. As her wings spread, other creatures, horrendous and twisted cacophonies of living things that made Skye want to vomit, slowly walked out of the misty forest. The Daemons slaughtered the entire village, leaving only a few survivors, including Skye's family. As Skye watched the people he had grown up around be ripped apart and eaten alive, he was exposed to horrors no 5 year old should ever experience. He stared on with a horrified expression, mumbling that he was sorry, for he was the one who led the Daemons to the village. His mumbles then turned to crazed ramblings as he clutched his head, trying to wake up from a nightmare that would not end. After the few survivors were rounded up, the Daemon that had first appeared and deceived Skye noticed him huddled with his family, his expression wide-eyed and staring into blank space, as though his head were in a different world, while his mother had her arms wrapped around him and his sister protectively and was sobbing. His sister looked around fearfully, still too young to comprehend what was happening but sensible enough to be afraid. The Daemon smiled a deceptively gentle smile at him, causing him to snap back to reality and break down in ragged sobs. The Daemon came over and wrestled him from his frantic mother's grasp, as his parents screamed for her to let him go. The Daemon simply smiled at them, before gently leading Skye slightly away, but still within earshot of the others. The Daemon affectionately caressed his terrified face and he absently noticed that he had wet himself but simply did not care. He started sobbing only to have the Daemon, who introduced herself as Belladonna, put a finger to his lips and gently shushed him. She commented on how beautiful he was and what a waste it would be for him to die. Therefore, she was going to let him live and she would not let any of the Daemons touch him. Skye could not believe his ears, the words coming from the one who had just massacred his village. Of course, it was too good to be true. The Daemon kept her word and not one hair on him was harmed. Instead, she ordered all the other survivors to be killed off slowly and painfully, letting their screams echo into the night, loud enough to drown out the flames of the burning village. Skye could only watch helplessly as the terrible fate was enacted on all those he cared about, including his parents. His father had his stomach ripped open and entrails pulled out and eaten all while he was still alive. His mother had each limb torn off one by one, making sure she felt the pain of losing each one. Skye screamed, the imaged forever being burned into his skull as his sanity shattered. The finale occurred when Belladonna carried his sister over, and put her barely out of his reach as he pathetically and weakly tried to reach out for her, before Belladonna's mouth split open, revealing a maw of countless needle like teeth and his sister was devoured alive, churned apart by those teeth right in front of his eyes, her blood staining him and forever staining his soul. Belladonna gathered the Daemons and left soon after, true to a word, leaving Skye completely unharmed. One Daemon tried to make a move on him only to be swiftly decapitated by the lead Daemon. Of course, Belladonna knew full well this was no mercy, in fact, it was what she had sadistically intended. To leave Skye, alone, completely untouched forever having to live down the events that had transpired and how he was the only one who had not even been slightly harmed. She knew that such guilt would shatter his soul and took pleasure in it. Shortly after the massacre, a teenaged female Arc who had flown her Aegis in after detecting a large demonic presence found Skye. He was brought back to Wrath and given psychiatric attention, before the female Arc formally adopted him as her younger brother. 10 years later, Skye was accepted into the academy as a Platinum student.

 **Relationships** – Unknown Adoptive Sister – All that is known about her is that she is an Arc who found Skye after his family and village outside the domes were slaughtered, leaving him the sole survivor. He chats with her on vidcom sometimes, with their conversations being overheard, revealing her to have a somewhat playful person who enjoys teasing Skye, often treating him as a younger sister than brother, but no one in the school have seen what she looks like or know who she is.

" **Type"-** Eh, romance is kinda spontaneous with my characters

 **Theme songs(Completely Optional)-**

 **Stats:**

 **Okay so basically, all students, well all citizens, are of course made to undergo a screening process to determine their potential. They undergo a set of tests that determine the following values, so just fill them up according to what you determine your character's stats to be. The total max value for the start of the story is 45, which each attribute being able to be rated from 1-10 in ascending order.**

 **Power:** 3

 **Agility:** 3

 **Mana:** 4

 **Wits:** 10

 **Teamwork:** 1

 **Skill:** 3

 **Composure:** 10

 **Ingenuity:** 10

 **Leadership:** 2

 **Combat:**

 **Combat "Class":** Strategist

 **Aegis-** As a Platinum student, Skye is only allowed to use the school's stock training units. The training units appear as grey pieces of armor that attach the main back piece via cables and tubes for Mana flow.

 **Weapons-** A pair of Mana handguns that can fire more powerful rounds in semi-automatic or weaker rounds in full automatic. He also wields a Mana dagger on backup that is magnetically strapped to his thigh piece.

 **Additional Gear** \- He has installed a self-made Mana disruptor in the form of a pulse that shoots out of a device attached to his left arm piece that can temporarily disable Mana flow of anything other than him (as he developed and implemented a countermeasure of his own into his suit) within a meter's radius.

 **Fighting Style** \- Skye has a severe disadvantage when it comes to power, and he knows it, thus he instead relies on his brains, always trying to wait out his enemy and bait mistakes, waiting for the perfect opening to launch nothing short of a killing blow that ends the battle in a single moment. His fighting style is not to fight at all, only to kill. (Metaphorically in the school setting, since killing his fellow students would cause some problems) He is however, a lone wolf and works extremely poorly in a team.

 **Strengths** -

Highly perceptive of his surroundings

Exceedingly creative and sharp in coming up with plans

Highly capable on thinking on the fly

Doesn't cave in under pressure

 **Weaknesses** -

Extremely weak in terms of raw power. He had one of the lowest scores for Mana in his entire cohort

Worthless as a team player

Helpless against opponents who cannot have their blunders exploited

Is honestly too lazy to fight, he'll throw practice matches just so he does not need to partake in them

 **Welp, there we go, I know he seems kinda generic and condensed atm haha, but just a fair warning, while I do wish any OCs to have their relationship with him developed via what is according to his current form, some of his information might not be true, and might change in the middle of the story. ;) This is to give you a sense of how he will APPEAR at the start of the story, and I know it sounds weird, but I want your characters to have a genuine reaction when stuff happens haha I want your characters to be as clueless at the start as you ;) This is also kind of an experiment for me haha Oh oh oh, I'm also looking to have a female character to fill in a certain lead role but at the same time, I don't want it to influence you guys creating your OCs, so I'll look through the OCs I get and if I don't find what I'm looking for, I'll just create her myself. :) If anyone is feeling particularly passionate about creating her, do PM me and I'll let you know what her role is intended to be. However, you might want to do her in addition to another OC of your own, as if there are multiple candidates for a single OC I can only pick one. That being said, please PM me your OCs with the title "From Ashes : OC Name". I will NOT entertain any OCs left in reviews, however good they might be. And do put depth and effort into your OCs. I'm passionate whenever I create my characters and it actually kind of gets on my nerves when I see OC applications with single line answers. And lastly, have fun! There's no point in any of this if the people involved aren't enjoying what they do. :) Sorry if Kiyu seems like a bitch today haha Anywho, I shall leave you all with the prologue now**

Dying sparks floated into the orange sky, only to flutter out of existence moments after leaving their parent flames. A lone boy, dragged his filthy feet, nails black from walking along the charred earth barefooted. The black burns in the soil stained in places with dark crimson, too much blood for all of it to seep into the ground. Numerous hand-built wooden constructs of residence collapsed under their own weight as the deathly inferno seared away their supports, the smoke completely blocking out the sky.

The boy, covered from head to toe in blood, and not a single drip of it his, stared deadpan into blank space, as he continued his 44th round around what had once been his home. He turned his head to take a glance of the place he once laid his head to rest every night, where he would awake to the smell of freshly baked bread in the morning, just in time to watch as it found its grave on the ground as well, the wind carrying its ash into the distance.

The boy slowly looked around with a dead expression, spying countless bodies, or rather pieces, not a single one intact, the limbs having been separated and lying in bloody piles everywhere, the entrails torn out and hung like twisted decorations. The boy finished his round, only to trip on something he did not see, plunging his face into the torn open abdomen of one he had once called "Father".

He slowly raised his face out of the gruesome crevice, his delicate features covered in insides as his eyes met the cold, dead, staring obsidians on his father's face. He let out a soft whimper before he spotted something that he had failed to notice before. He meekly crawled over to it and cupped the bloody object in his already blood-soaked hands, trying to figure out what it was. As he was doing so, he heard a strange whirring sound he had never heard before, before the sound of heavy footfall behind him. He turned around to find a giant beast, that seemed to be made of metal, standing behind him against the setting sun, watching him. The direction of the light left all of the beast's front shrouded in blackness, and he assumed one of the monsters had returned to finish him.

No matter. Death would be a mercy at this point. He paid the creature no heed, mentally urging it to get on with the business of tearing him apart and devouring him quickly, as he turned his attention back to the strange and gruesome yet familiar object that lay in his hand. He let out a gasp, as his eyes exploded open when he realized what he was holding. A fresh wave of anguish befell him once more as he squeezed his sister's dismembered hand, the hand drawing she had done that day still intact, to his agonized chest as he bowed his head forward sobbing uncontrollably, before he threw his head to the sky and let out a scream of pure torment.


	2. Chapter 1: Brewing Storms

**Hey ho! O/ So first thing's first, I gotta lay down some extra details that I have worked into the story.**

 **Firstly, I've decided to change the cities to nations, with each nation varying in size. The locations of each nation remains the same as what the cities were before. I will release full details on the span of each nation when I decide on it and finalize it. However what I have decided is that Wrath will encompass the entirety of Japan, due to adding a plot point involving ShinBP's character.**

 **The barriers do not affect natural non-living factors such as wind, temperature, air etc as they do not possess mana, as such natural weather and seasons still exist. If you wish, do pm me with additional winter wear/autumn wear for your OC. I actually added a few things to the OC form with regards to clothes, so do take a look. That being said, the story will start in the late summer/the end of it.**

 **I'm also altering the function of the energy shields on Aegis to only cover any part of the user's body not covered by the armor, thus preventing any attack from directly hitting the user but allowing the armor suits to still come in contact with other armor. This was to make melee battles make more sense haha I actually thought of a few other things to add but now I've forgotten them like a dunce -.- Now at any point if I decide to change something that has not yet been rendered canon as part of the story, feel free to pm me any changes you wish to make to your character :) Now without further a due let us get started.**

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 **Unknown Location, January 28** **th** **2212**

Ravaging winds mercilessly assaulted the titanic walls of The Citadel, a juggernaut of architecture formed with the skeletons of long ruined human constructs fused together with liquefied mana, a technique eons ahead in evolution to any being native to Earth. But of course, its occupants were anything but. Abdominal creatures lurked the murky corridors, for Daemons had no need for light, darkness being their domain. The Citadel spanned easily what had once been considered 5 city blocks, and every inch was swarmed with nightmares.

At its summit, a lone figure, far less monstrous in appearance than the others, lounged on her throne of bones, not all human. She raised a chalice filled with a fine brew of red wine, slowly sipping the liquid and allowing its taste to grace her tongue and savored the buzz it sent through her blood, for alcohol was one of the few pleasures that she shared with the humans, or as most Daemons regarded them, livestock. She gazed thoughtfully out of the gargantuan window that overlooked her entire domain, while savoring the luxury she held in her taloned hands.

The sound of a door opening caused her gaze to shift slightly, but she did not grace the newcomer with her full attention as he respectfully, and fearfully, approached her and bowed his demonic form, vaguely humanoid in nature but at least 7ft tall, Daemonium, a metal from the Daemon's world, armor fused onto his body, and extra pair of taloned arms and finally a sword forged from the mana-infused bones of a long slain rival Daemon Lord who had once challenged him for territory.

"M'Lady, I bring news from the scouts in the East." Her attention shifted once more, her interest now piqued as she found herself ever so slightly eager to learn of what news her servant brought her.

"Ah, yes. And tell me, Eizen. What has become of Daetro's fortress? Why has there been no communication with them for so long."

Eizen hesitated, somewhat fearful of revealing to his mistress, the knowledge that had come to him. Noting the hesitation, She rose from her throne, expression on her deceptively beautiful features unchanging, yet runes that lined the scaly carapace on her otherwise reasonably humanoid and female form lighted up in a bright and fiery lilac, a pair of dragon-like wings, lined with razor sharp talons that put the finest metal blades to shame, spread out from behind her, covering Eizen completely in their shadow.

Eizen, despite being a Daemon Lord himself, cowered in intimidation upon Her display, her own form, despite being proportionately slender and feminine, was easily twice his size.

"Tell me, my dear Eizen, how long have you served me?"

"For 4 millennia, M'Lady. Since you singlehandedly crushed my forces without any show of effort."

"Then you know patience is not my strong suit." Though her bored expression did not change, the threatening edge in her voice was unmistakable.

"Forgive me your greatness!" Eizen groveled in fear for his life, knowing all it took was a single motion to separate his head from his body. She sighed in annoyance and exasperation, wondering how this weakling had once been feared and revered in the Daemon's realm.

"Just tell me what the scouts have to say."

"At once, M'Lady! Upon arrival, the scouts found a graveyard, the corpses of our kind formed an ocean surrounding the fortress. The structure itself was ravaged, barely even standing. Lord Daetro… All they found was his head, impaled on his own blade, in the very heart of the fortress. No…. No human bodies were found."

Eizen fearfully awaited his mistress's outburst, but it never came. She ignored him, stepping towards the window, lost in her own thought once more as she contemplated the new information. Humankind had always been on the defensive, even after the creation of their superweapons, Aegis, they were far outnumbered by the Legions from beyond the Gate. Yet, over the recent years, hundreds of Lords had been found assassinated seemingly at human hands. And now, an entire army had been wiped out. The higher echelons of Daemon hierarchy were baffled and in panic over the new threat. However, perhaps _She_ had an inkling.

A rare smile spread across Belladonna's features, before erupting into laughter, a melodious sound that struck terror and despair to the hearts of all who heard it, in this case, Eizen who hugged the floor in horror. For the first time in 10 years, Belladonna felt excitement in her demonic veins.

"I guess it's time I took the stage. Ne, Skye-Chan?"

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 **Neo-Toyko, Nation of Wrath, September 30** **th** **2212**

"Reports have come in that numerous drug dens have continued to be ransacked and demolished by the all-female biker vigilante group known as Wrath's Vicious Skull Ladies. Eye-witnesses claim that despite the seemingly noble intentions of the group, members have been noted to be hostile to anyone not one of them. In other news, in 3 days, we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the pivotal battle where Lieutenant General Hazuki Kyouta led the first generation Arcs at a young age of 18, in their victory against the Daemon Lords of Kyoto, the deciding factor in our retaking of Japan in its entirety under the great banner of Wrath."

A lone figure clad in short-sleeved hoodie over a black t-shirt, along with grey sweat pants and yellow running shoes sat by the window gazing out into the city lights in the near empty train carriage. The midnight train headed for Shimatsu Academy Island held only a handful of passengers who were willing to travel at such an ungodly hour to beat the massive crowds sure to fill the trains the next day, most of whom were asleep, leaving only the whine of the trains magnetic levitation engines and the news report as the only sounds to be heard. Both were lost to a young Skye Farris, who had a pair of wireless ear pieces plugged into his ears, listening to songs that were hundreds of years old.

His body stiffened upon feeling a hand on his shoulder, although his demeanor remained calm, as he slowly turned around, to find a tall, slender yet powerfully built boy, a couple years older than Skye himself, smiling charmingly at him with sharp, mature looking features, holding a bottle of mineral water in his free hand. Skye guessed that the boy could be regarded as extremely handsome, if he was into that sort of thing, as the boy set himself down in the empty seat right next to Skye, before seemingly unconsciously fluttering his lashes over ocean blue eyes, and tossing his wild, chocolate brown hair to the side, a maneuver Skye was sure worked wonders on the ladies, as he tapped the screen on his holographic wrist watch PDA, causing his earpieces to retract onto a band that was wrapped around the back of his head, under a layer of his creamy caramel hair.

"I'm sorry, I was just walking down the carriage and could not help myself from wondering what such a fair and beautiful maiden such as yourself could possibly be doing with the abomination we call loneliness. Why, it's an outcry to the heavens! To have one of its finest angels be thirsty on her own. Thus, I saw fit for unworthy me to bring her a drink."

"Go fuck yourself, Ryouta." Skye snorted as he non-chalantly snatched the bottle out of his old friend's hand, causing the older boy, senior by two years to laugh.

"My my, angsty, aren't we. You know, Skye, if you keep being so hostile, you're never going to get a boyfriend." Hazuki Ryouta teased, his friend, despite being one of the few people who actually knew or believed Skye's true gender.

"Your wisdom is duly noted." Skye responded sarcastically before uncapping the bottle and taking a sip while Ryouta did so as well.

"What are you even doing here so early anyway? I thought you had to stay home for the celebration?" Ryouta choked and broke into a coughing fit on his friend's sudden question.

"Do- * **cough** * don't do that while I'm drinking." Ryouta struggled, always flustered when the topic of his father, the legendary Hazuki Kyouta, was mentioned.

"Gomenasaiiii." Skye drew out his husky feminine voice in a tone that indicated he was not sorry at all. He waited until Ryouta finally managed to ensure he was not about to choke to death and composed himself.

"An entire day of being compared to my father by rich elitists? No thank you. Mum convinced Dad to let me go cos well, she hates those pricks too. You know how she can be." Skye shuddered at the thought of Ryouta's mother, Tsukasa, working her "charms of persuasion" on Hazuki Senior. His condolences went to Kyouta.

"That, and Yumiko wanted to have some early practice to kick off the semester. You know, my partner Yumiko, the strongest student in school and the one who's about to get knocked off the throne of most beautiful girl in school with you around."

"I know who Amatari Yumiko is." It was not lost on Ryouta that Skye had chosen to ignore the second part as he turned his gaze away from Ryouta back out of the window, although this time he let the opportunity for a tease slide, curiosity finding itself elsewhere.

"So. You never did tell me why you decided to go to school and more importantly, how the hell you managed to get put in Platinum."

"Isn't it compulsory for all mana-sensitives to attend the _prestigious_ Shimatsu Academy?" Came the nonchalant response.

"I'm being serious, you chibi." That earned him a distant chuckle from the one he regarded as his closest friend.

"Sa. Why indeed…"

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 **Shimatsu Academy, Nation of Wrath, The Next Day**

Barto Mizutari took in the full glory of Shimatsu Academy through the window of the campus bus that was taking him from Shimatsu Terminal to the main school building. His lavender eyes marveled at the elegant architecture that scattered the massive grounds, which was situated on an entire floating island. He noted flashing lights coming from what seemed to be a stadium before spotting a pair of mechanical suits soar into the air before colliding their wielded blades against one another in a parry.

Barto excitedly pressed his face against the window, watching as the upper classmen sparred one another before their melee sank back into the stadium, hidden from his view. He let out a sigh of disappointment and was very tempted to yell for the bus driver to let him off or failing that, open the window and jump out to go watch the session from inside the arena. However, the school's instructions for all freshmen were to go straight to the auditorium for their entrance ceremony and Barto did not wish to get into trouble on his very first day, even if they were still an hour early.

"What are you doing?" A somewhat annoyed female voice questioned him with a distinct European accent from the seat next to him.

Barto replied as he slunk back into his seat in dejection.

"There was a mock fight going on and I caught a glimpse of it but now I can't see it anymore." Barto pouted childishly earning him an exasperated sigh from his petite best friend, Rayanne Freth. She turned her pale oval face, adorned with distinct Korean features (not that Korea existed anymore) and dusk colored eyes, away from the book she had been reading since the Tokyo-Shimatsu Railway to give Barto a firm look.

"Bart, we're in a school that revolves around fighting. You'll see nothing but Aegis fights for the next 3 years and probably for the rest of your life."

"It's just, I've never actually seen one in action before. All those stories I've heard from people who came into my dad's shop. It's like being a real superhero!"

Rayanne groaned and rubbed her temple.

 _How is it humanly possible to be THAT naïve?_

Yet, she chose to return her attention to her book, titled "A Boy and His Dog", not being able to bring herself to expose her best friend to the horrifying truths of how the world was now, even if it would be in his best interests.

"Ne, Aya?"

"What now, Bart?" She was about to give Barto an annoyed earful when she noticed that his expression was uncharacteristically serious, causing her to go on alert and her expression grew more concerned.

"Well, you know I don't want to have anyone else as a partner, even though we're in different divisions."

Rayanne felt like she had been slapped as she remembered when they had gotten their test scores with Bart getting put into Diamond while herself getting Platinum due to her low mana scores.

"Gee, thanks for reminding me…" Despite her tone, Rayanne had indeed been touched when Barto had adamantly insisted to have her as his partner in the Academy.

"But anyway, I've been thinking, maybe it wasn't such a good idea after all." Rayanne's heart plummeted as her expression grew mortified.

 _No. Please no. Even if I'm weak, after we've been friends for so long? After he promised me? Was it something I did? I KNEW I SHOULD HAVE GIVEN HIM THAT LAST LOLLIPOP!_

"Wh-wh-what are you saying, Bart?" She braced herself for the answer she did not want to hear as Barto took a deep breath to prepare himself for what he was about to say.

"I mean, think about it Aya, I'm a boy, and you're a girl, are you sure you're comfortable being my roommate?"

Rayanne's eye twitched as a single bead of sweat rolled down her forehead as she struggled to comprehend what had just entered her ears before she rolled her free hand into a fist causing Barto to look questioningly at her.

"Eh?"

Barto's cry of pain was heard for miles.

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Hashidate Izuha turned the pamphlet she held in her hands in multiple, a confused and frustrated expression worn on her slightly masculine features while she desperately tried to compare her surroundings to the campus map that the school had provided all freshmen students. All around her, students of all levels traversed the majestic wooden hallways, locked in conversations with one another. Izuha knew her life would be much easier if she simply asked for directions, yet her social awkwardness and pride prevented her from doing so.

Finally giving up, she threw the map into the air and groaned in exasperation, cursing herself for being too late to catch the freshman tour led by her Aunt Yuno, who was a teacher at the academy.

" _Gomene, Izuha-Chan. I have to lead the freshman tour around campus, but if you can make it to join the tour, I can still show you around."_

Izuha's downfall that day was that she had not predicted needing to wait 6 entire trains before one had space for her to board, causing her to be an hour late for the tour.

 _I'm supposed to learn to kill demons and my one true weakness is being unable to read a map…. Why the heck does this place have to be such a labyrinth?_

"Hey, excuse me, urm, are you… alright?" Izuha jumped and yelped in surprise upon hearing deep and smooth male voice, strangely accented, emanate from behind her.

"Woah, woah, relax! Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." Izuha turned her tall 5'8'' athletic frame towards the one who had approached her, an embarrassed blush heating on her cheeks. Her body stiffened as she saw the olive-skinned tank of a boy roughly the same height as her holding his hands out in a somewhat peaceful gesture, in his attempt to reassure her.

His rugged features contorted in a comforting manner, although he struggled to do so.

"Gomenasai, gomenasai!" Izuha bowed her head in apology and extreme embarrassment from her embarrassing display only for the boy to run his hand through his short charcoal hair and stubble, fingers idling on a small scar under the stubble on his chin before he smiled and extended his hand.

"No, no, it was my fault for startling you. You're a freshman right? I'm Matthew, Matthew Black, a third year."

"Hashidate Izuha… It's nice to meet you." Still embarrassed , Izuha hesitantly returned the handshake.

"So, uh, I kinda noticed you throwing that map into the air. Anything I can help you with." Izuha's already red cheeks turned a shade brighter as she struggled to find her words.

"No! I mean, er- I just- I-" Before she could embarrass herself further, she immediately threw her hands onto her face, in a vain attempt to hide from the world, earning her a confused look from Matthew. Taking a deep breath, she finally composed herself and found the courage to form a soft-spoken but coherent sentence.

"I… was looking for the dorms and the auditorium."

"Ah, freshman initiation. Well, you're in the right building for the auditorium but dorms are a few blocks away." Izuha looked mortified at the thought of having to navigate her way to the dorms causing Matthew to chuckle.

"Relax, 2nd and 3rd years don't have lessons on the first day. Come on, I'll show you around."

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A resounding cry of awe and cheer echoed into the late morning air as Ryouta deftly blasted his thrusters with unnaturally quick reflexes, throwing him out of the way of the near-undodgable glow blade that came crashing down onto the ground he had just occupied not even half a second ago, searing into the asphalt as though it was paper. Not even giving him time to recover, the blade's wielder reversed her grip on its hilt in the very same motion, and fired her own thrusters, not even bothering to lift the blade from the floor, instead, allowing it to slice the ground before bringing it up in an uppercut as she closed in on Ryouta. With full concentration, he felt her presence enter the invisible mist of released mana that shrouded him, causing everything that occurred within it to slow to a crawl. Ryouta smirked, knowing that the fight was decided the moment she had entered his "Absolute Zone", a technique that allowed him an acute sense of his opponent's movements within a certain range of him, when they were covered in a layer of his own mana, released through tiny vents in his armor.

Waiting until the absolute final moment, Ryouta slammed his armored left foot into the ground and cut off all his left side thrusters, causing him to swing perfectly around his opponent and narrowly avoiding her smoldering red katana, before bringing one of his midnight-colored swords swinging in the same motion as his dodge, the blade lighting up in a pale blue light as he activated its hyper vibration to cut straight through any defense she might somehow muster, aimed right for her back. In that single moment, he _felt_ her move, too fast even for "Absolute Zone" to read completely, and he felt his confidence fade as his eyes found himself staring straight into the barrel of a large 1 handed cannon. His opponent smiled sweetly at him and tilted her head playfully before squeezing the trigger right before his blade could meet her, sending a massive energy blast colliding into his shield at point blank range, completely smashing him backwards as he cut through the air like a bullet, before slamming into the arena's safety shields, hard enough that the entire transparent energy dome that surrounded the arena shimmered in protest.

A loud alarming beeping hammered into his head, mixed in with the ringing in his ears from the mild concussion the blast had given him. Trying his best to ignore the stars he was seeing, he focused his eyes and mind as much as he could to see on the Heads-Up-Display, or HUD, from his neural connection to his suit that the single blast had taken his shields all the way from full into the red zone, thus ending the battle.

"Match over! Match over! The winner is Amatari Yukino!" A resounding cheer could be heard from the large crowd that had gathered to watch the practice match between Shimatsu Academy's number 1 and number 2. Under all the cheers of reverence for the school's most popular girl, the grief and sorrow of Ryouta's numerous fangirls could be heard crying out for him, asking if he was okay.

Ryouta finally snapped back to his senses when the heavy footfall of Aegis boots could be heard approaching him, before a metal gauntleted hand extended to help him back to his feet. The wing-like thrusters attached to the rear shoulders of Yukino's sunset-colored armor folded back to hug her back piece as the armor slowly powered down, the numerous cords that facilitated mana flow throughout the armor gradually losing their golden glow as the mana flow slowed. Her handcannon had already been locked magnetically to the left thigh of her armor and she pressed a button on her katana's grip, causing the energy blade to retract into, before she locked it to her other thigh. After helping Ryouta to his feet, the white chest piece, embedded with a large crystal that burned with golden fire when Yukino wore the armor, hissed before unlatching from her back piece, allowing her to unlock her limbs from the suit and pull out her arm to push the chest piece up. Grabbing ahold of the samurai-styled shoulder piece, she freed the rest of her perfect body, now only covered with a lack skin tight combat suit that was really nothing more than a one-piece swimsuit that emphasized her curves in all the right places. Jumping from her armor, Yukino pulled her hair out of its ponytail, casually pushing it into the air as she relished finally being able to free her autumn locks, much to the lusting glee of every male and some female student in the spectator stands.

Ryouta powered down his jet-black armor, named MidKnight, as well, the thrusters folding back in a manner similar to Yukino's suit, Akatsuki, while he placed both his swords against the magnetic sheaths on his back piece, in between the two wing-like thrusters, before they locked themselves to the armor. Freeing himself of his armor, that resembled a Dark Knight's mail, styled after ancient European medieval armors. Slapping himself in the back of his head, he finally shook off most of his disorientation, shaking Yukino's hand to signify the end of the match.

"Almost had me there, Ryou-Kun. Almost."

"Don't even, Yuki. It went exactly how you intended didn't it? Absolute Zone doesn't really matter if you're too fast for me to even react."

"Oh, give yourself some credit. You actually made me get kind of serious. "

"Yeah, yeah." Ryouta nonchalantly waved off his smug, much shorter partner, who was now waving back at her legions of fans.

Ryouta patted down his clothes, comprised of a white t-shirt and a pair of black shorts, the standard gym attire of Shimatsu academy. Both young Arcs then vocally recalled their respective suits, each shrinking into something resembling an accessory, an obsidian ring around his finger, in Ryouta's case, and a heavily decorated golden bracelet for Yumiko.

Together, both Arcs started their walk towards the arena exit side by side, going over the results of their training session together.

"Well, it's good to see you didn't get rusty over summer."

"Like that will ever happen. I still can't quite get Absolute Zone to reach the same sensory level as my dad's. I'm nowhere near him, or even you for that matter, when it comes to reaction time."

"You ever considered maybe trying a different approach?"

"Like what?"

"How should I know, I'm not you." Yumiko chimed in a sing-song voice before playfully skipping ahead, causing Ryouta to sigh.

"I gotta start heading for the main building. My friend's entrance ceremony is in an hour." Yumiko stopped and turned her body while bending forward with her hands behind her back, angelic features curious.

"Friend? You mean that Skye person you're always talking about?"

"Yeah, I promised to be there for the ceremony."

Yumiko smiled playfully, if a little pervertedly, turning her body so she was walking backwards.

"Eehhhh? A loving and honest promise, made in the hot passion of the bedroom for that special someone?"

Ryouta snorted and stifled a laugh, picturing Skye's reaction if he had heard that. The comedic value would be priceless. He mused about the country long lines of suitors who would do absolutely anything to be in that kind of situation with the beautiful bishonen.

"You have a wild imagination, you know that?"

Yumiko giggled playfully, before twirling around, causing her sun-colored, waist-long hair to spin around, creating the illusion of a majestic fire.

"Ne, you mind if I tag along? I've always wanted to meet this cutie who seems so dear to you. Sides', my kawaii imouto is doing the welcome speech." Ryouta pondered the description of Skye being dear to him, and found that he had in fact regarded Skye as his best friend for as long as he could remember, despite the 2 year age gap.

"Er, sure. Why not? We were supposed to have dinner tonight as well, you're welcome to join us."

"Great! I can't wait to meet her!" It took all of Ryouta's willpower to barely keep his face straight until Yumiko turned away and hopped ahead, before forcing his uncontrollable laughter into his palm.

He might have "accidentally" and "innocently" told Yumiko that Skye was a girl, knowing full well that his partner was interested in the female variety.

With a mischievous look on his face, he made sure that the holographic video recorder on his PDA was working before composing himself and following behind Yumiko.

 _Oh man, this is going to be one for the history books._

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Amidst the walls of freshmen students making their way to Shimatsu Academy's auditoriam, Tokisaki Rukio, a girl whose family name was out throughout the entirety of Wrath and not in a good way, made her way towards the same place as those around her, alone, trying her best to ignore the whispers of contempt from those who recognized her as the daughter of the government's most corrupt official, responsible for most of the nation's poverty. Despite her own hatred for that monster, it did not save Rukio from the stigma carried by his bloodline.

"Hey, Rina, check it out."

"Wait is that…."

"Yeah. Tokisaki Rykatsu's daughter."

"What's that Tokisaki scum doing here…."

Unable to take it anymore, Rukio hastened her pace, wanting more than anything to be deaf at that very moment. In her haste, she failed to notice a muscular form barreling straight towards her, only noticing as it smashed square into her side, sending her sprawling in pain onto the tiled ground.

As she groaned in pain, she slowly opened her eyes to find that the crowd has frozen in place and dispersed from around her, allowing a group of female legs, clad in various punk like clothing such as fishnet leggings and high-heels, approach her in a closely knit group. She slowly turned to look at the one who had knocked her to the ground, finding the somewhat bulky form and heavily made up face, covered in heavy eyeliner and dark lipstick, piercings on every conceivably patch of skin, snarling at her in disgust. Her hair was spiked up with a ridiculous amount of wax, and colored in a variety of different colors, a mark contrast to the school uniform she wore. Rukio recognized her as Touzaki Kara, the vanguard of her former gang, Wrath's Vicious Skull Ladies, or WVSL for short.

 _Shit._

Rukio knew from experience that no Skull Lady ever went anywhere without the company of another, and to be accompanied by no less than 7, she knew exactly who she had just run into. Slowly getting up to her feet, Kara growled, before kneeing her in the stomach once more before a seductive but commanding voice called out.

"Enough, Kara."

The large girl reluctantly backed away from a violently coughing Rukio, but not before taking the time to spit on her. Despite her pain, Rukio forced herself to her feet, readjusting the uneven but combed short side bangs of her bob cut hair and her black hairband, decorated with a pair of black lace roses, before non-committedly tidying her two waist-length side twintails with the hand that did not clutch her agonized abdomen. The gang of girls, all freshmen as well, for there were no members of the WVSL who were older than herself, all donned a similar fashion, with their uniforms worn in varying levels of sloppiness, and every last one glared and hissed at Rukio with pure, undiluted hatred, save the taller girl at the forefront, just barely shorter than Kara, who fell in line behind her. The obvious leader wore no obvious contempt on her bronze, artfully beautiful face, devoid of any makeup for she never needed anything other than her natural beauty to make any man crave for her, yet, Rukio knew that her hatred for her was probably unmatched by any of the others who followed her.

"Ruki. My, my, how the mighty have fallen." The same seductive voice, one that could only be characteristic of a succubus, drawled in condescension.

"Emi."

"You BITCH! How dare you say her name, you filthy traitor!" The girl on Emi's right, Momoko, was about to cuss more only to be silenced by a single gesture of Emi raising her index finger to her shoulder. That was how the WVSL worked, the leader commanded each and every member as though they were her own fingers. It pained Rukio to remember that she was once the one who raised that finger.

"I hear you're Obsidian as well. I guess it figures considering who your father is. Always making use of the Tokisaki connections, just like before." The mention of the Tokisaki name caused the rest of the crowd, who had until now chose to remain silent and uninvolved, to join in the jeering, for the public hatred for her father was universal. Rukio had long grown used to the numerous accusations of her making use of her family's power to have her way, false accusations to be sure, but to hear such a thing from Emi, who had once been akin to a sister to her, the one who knew her like no other, and especially the one who knew full well the misleading cruelty in her words, pierced her heart like an icicle covered in the world's deadliest venom. Yet, Rukio remained silent, clenching her fists and swallowing everything. Yet her silence seemed only to anger Emi, whose previous mask of perfection and composure twisted into a mask of fury, her voluptuous body, curve in all the right places and perfectly proportioned, tensed before she drew her slender arm back and threw the iced coffee that she held straight at Rukio, soiling every last inch of her uniform. Rukio almost felt her strength waver, almost cried out and let the tears fall, but alas, she stood resolute, unwilling, or rather refusing to show any emotion.

"What do you think you're doing!" All heads turned to find a less than vertically-inclined woman, with bespectacled ruby eyes, and well-kept short charcoal hair, running clumsily down the hallway in a pair of office heels. Her choice of clothing, involving a white blouse and black knee length skirt, coupled with the name tag she wore identified her as Hashidate Yona, a combat practical teacher.

Despite her less than ideal state of emotions, Rukio found it hard to believe that this woman was in fact a combat instructor.

"The old you would never have taken that lying down." Emi turned away in disgust, her entourage clearing to the side and allowing her to pass as the surrounding crowd slowly returned to their own activities.

"See you in class." The entire gang of girls follow their leader, exchanging a variety of crude profanities at Rukio, ignoring Yona's shouts for them to stop.

"Hey, stop right there! I said stop!" Before she could pass Rukio, the taller female stepped out in front of the teacher, holding her hands out in reassurance and putting on the most convincing smile she could muster.

"It's okay, Hashidate-Sensei. They didn't injure me or anything." A lie, considering she could already feel the bruises forming on her abdomen.

"But but-"

"Really, it's fine, Sensei." She forced a laugh to hide her annoyance at the teacher's childish insistence.

 _Will you just leave me alone, you damned klutz._

Yona gave her a worried look, much to her inner frustration, already feeling her temper boiling.

 _I swear to god, if she doesn't just let me go-_

Finally, Yona sighed in resignation.

"Okay, as long as you say it's fine."

 _THAT'S WHAT I'VE BEEN SAYING YOU IDIOT._

"Hold on, you're a freshman aren't you? You can't attend the ceremony like that!" Yona pointed at Rukio's uniform with a mortified look on her face, the dark blaser dripping wet and underneath, almost none of the previously snow white blouse remained unstained.

 _Are you fucking kidding me?_

Yona quickly checked her PDA before sighing in relief.

"There's still some time before the ceremony, you should still be able to get to your dorm and change if you hurry. Your luggage should already be there."

Rukio gritted her teeth and thanked Yona as politely as she could manage, about 2 seconds from a meltdown, before dashing away in the direction of the building exit before the teacher could open her big mouth once more. As she ran, she found herself finally unable to contain her tears and burst out sobbing, all the while not breaking a stride, wishing for the privacy of her dorm room, even if only for a moment. As she neared the building with the large sign that read "Dormitories: C-Block" she finally slowed down and blew her runny nose into her blaser, not caring that she was dirtying it since she was going to change anyway. Giving herself the luxury of expressing her emotions for a few more seconds, she inhaled deeply, getting her sobbing under control, wiping away the tears from her heart-shaped face, cleaning her small nose and thin lips. However, as things were, she could do nothing about her bloodshot turquoise eyes, though the flush in her normally pink-tinted skin would die down on its own.

In the same time, Rukio brought up the display on her PDA, tapping on its holographic screen until she found the email that held her accommodation details. She scrolled down until she found her room number along with the name of her apparent partner in school and roommate. As no one in the school had wanted to partner up with her, the school had taken the liberty to pair her up with another student who had no partner either as all students were required to have a designated partner.

"Skye Farris. Platinum." Rukio snorted as she tried to picture what kind of loser could possibly have absolutely no one wanting to partner with them.

 _Platinum. They might as well have partnered me with a pair of ankle weights._

Rukio sighed, resigning herself to her fate. No matter, Rukio was used to working alone, and with her strength, she was more than capable of it. If this Skye Farris could not keep up with her, that was their problem, as she would not let them drag her down.

Rukio walked into the elevator, which brought her to her floor, which was the 7th.

 _Whoopee, lucky 7, lucky me…_

She walked down the relatively empty corridor, tracing her fingers on the room number plates until she found hers. She held her PDA up to the identification reader which verified her identity and released the lock on the door, before she opened it and stepped in, finding a pair of grey high-top sneakers sitting neatly to pair of black and yellow running shoes arranged tidily at the doorstep.

 _So they're already here._

Rukio removed her black Mary Jones, leaving them sloppily on the ground before stepping into the, admittedly, spacious room. The room resembled that of a luxurious hotel, with an equipped kitchen, carpeted floor, a pair of desks that held computer terminals meant for both studying and entertainment, a dining table as well as a large paper thin transparent screen attached to the wall, a high-end holoscreen, just like the ones in her house. From where she stood, she could only see the living area and the open toilet door next to her that held the signs of a recent shower, thus she walked further into the room, intending to entirely ignore her roommate and instead get changed as fast as she could and leave.

However, the best-laid plans never go according to plan. As the sleeping area came into view, she saw the pair of single beds, looking as soft and welcoming as any she had ever seen, laid next to each other with a gap and a table holding a light in the center, with a large walk in wardrobe next to the empty bed, all her luggage sitting neatly next to it. However, what froze her where she stood was not the sight of the comforts of home. Instead, she was absolutely stunned by the view that she had been graced with from where she stood. Sitting with her back faced to Rukio, on the bed that was next to large glass door that led to the balcony, was the single most beautiful sight that had ever touched her eyes. The angelic form had not yet put on their bottom, being only in a pair of boxer shorts as she towel dried her bare back of impossibly and flawlessly creamy smooth skin, the color of vanilla ice cream and as Rukio believed there and then, just as delicious. The towel moved to her head as she ran it over her neck length silky fine, caramel locks, her face turned halfway towards Rukio with her eyes closed, the sunlight causing her delicate, long and curled lashes to appear to be dancing over her closed lids. Her features were unlike anything she had ever seen, so soft and delicate, so _unearthly,_ that Rukio could hardly believe what her eyes were seeing. As her semi-straight hair fell into place as she finished drying it, the sides of her bangs fell below her chin framing her soft face, longer than the rest of her silky hair, while the rest fell in a ridiculously appealingly messy way over her eyes. As she finally opened her onyx eyes, her doll-like lips parted slightly and the sunlight being cast on her only emphasized her beauty further, if it was even possible for her to appear even more beautiful. As she slowly pulled on her white dress shirt while slowly turning to look at Rukio, she finally revealed that she knew she was being watched, with melodic yet husky voice that had the perfect balance of vulnerability and strength.

"Hi there. You're Rukio right? I hope you don't mind me taking the window bed, because I thought you might find it more convenient to be next to the wardrobe with all your bags whi- Eh?"

Skye stopped short as his eyes widened, upon seeing that Niagra Falls worth of blood had erupted from his roommate's nose as she stood there with a stupid-looking smile on her face and her eyes distant. Skye cried out and panicked, rushing over to her side when her lost consciousness from the blood loss of her nosebleed and fell backward, screaming for her to wake up.

"Hey, HEY! Wake up! What's wrong?! OI, GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF!" None of the words registered to a half conscious Rukio , however, Skye's frantic voice was simply honey to her ears, even if she could not register what he was saying.

 _Oh great power in the sky. I thank thee for sending unworthy me your finest Goddess._

 **Derp derpity derp, welp, there's the first chapter! I hope you guys enjoyed it! As usual, do leave a review as it genuinely encourages me to write, even if I do tend to take forever to update -.- Anywho, My laptop's battery is about to die, so ja, mataneee~~~~**


	3. Chapter 2: School Bell

**So, I just noticed that I accidentally wrote Yukino's name as Yumiko at the start of the last chapter like the dunce that I am… Just to clarify, Ryouta's partner and also the strongest student in the school is Yukino, while her younger sister who is a year 2 is Yumiko, and I got the names mixed up cos I'm dumb….**

A deep and mellow yet soft and silky voice hummed to a tune that resembled electricity made into a sound, the melody mixed with the calm early autumn breeze as the tall 6' boy lay his slender yet powerful build on the soft bed of grass, the green of his shoulder length hair merging with that of the tender blades beneath his head, under Shimatsu Academy's oldest Cherry Tree, a few of its pink leaves already starting their journey into the orange region.

Calico Reveryn smiled with his eyes closed in utter relaxation as he reveled in the serenity granted to him, a rare treat, afforded only with the first day of the semester where everyone was too busy getting settled into the school to venture into the gardens.

"Calico? Oi, Calico-Kun?"

Calico slowly opened his scarlet eyes to the sound of an airy voice calling out to him before hearing a pair of feet in black flats plant themselves in the grass next to him.

"There you are!" Came the annoyed and exasperated response to finding him. Calico casually turned his head to smile sweetly at the fit female figure of his partner, Hayate Mika, clad neatly in the poster depiction of Shimatsu Academy's uniform, slender yet strong legs wrapped in navy blue leggings.

"Nice to see you too, Mika-Chan."

"Geez, what are you doing lazing around here again?" Annoyance of her partner's laid-back personality edged into Mika's voice as she firmly planted her hands on her firm hips, an exasperated look plastering her face.

"We were supposed to have pre-term practice today, remember?"

"Oh, relax, Mika. It's the first day of school and it's a free day. Just slow down and enjoy the fresh air." Calico closed his eyes as a gentle breeze tickled his forest lashes causing Mika to look up from him with a curious expression on her face as the same breeze tugged at her crimson waves and a few stray strands were pushed away from her face. Knowing it was a lost cause, Mika simply sighed and planted her rear on the grass next to Calico leaning back onto the support of her hands on the ground behind her and her knees raised as she looked straight up into the clear blue sky, completely aware of the invisible dome that kept nightmares out from the nation.

"Oh, whatever…. Like this is going to go anywhere…" A pause as both Arcs enjoyed the admittedly good weather.

"Ne, you hear about the freshmen this year?" The sudden change in topic peaked Calico's interest as he turned his head to face his partner once more, who was still staring into the sky.

"What about them?"

"Interesting batch this year. Tokisaki's daughter, yeah, _that_ Tokisaki, some special case transfer from Sloth, apparently from a military outfit. Both of them made Obsidian. Some biker gang too, and the leader made Obsidian as well. Then there's this one kid, scored like record low for mana in the entries but somehow he still managed to get in."

"Speaking of interesting, Yagumi is off his suspension. He'll be back tomorrow." Mika immediately threw her shocked gaze in the direction of her infuriatingly nonchalant partner, her face a mask of panic.

"That psycho is back? Wait, he got suspended, not expelled?"

"You really think the headmaster is going to expel someone with that much mana?" Both Arcs shuddered at the thought of their mysterious headmaster. Supposedly one of the 5 most powerful Arcs in existence, right up there with Hazuki Kyouta, she rarely showed herself to anyone and no one even actually knew what her name was. One thing was certain, in her few appearances, though she seemed friendly, any mana sensitive could feel her monstrous reserves half a mile away.

"Ever had that cheesy cliché feeling like something's about to happen?"

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"All freshmen, please stand." Barto gulped nervously and followed suit as 99 other freshmen rose to their feet all around him. He chanced a quick look to his left and saw that Aya still wore the same pout that she'd had since the bus and Barto still did not know what exactly he had done to subject himself to a murder case in the making.

 _I'll never understand women…_

"Please welcome our Student Council President, Amatari Yumiko, as she provides a welcome speech." The unenthusiastic mc who clearly wished to be elsewhere, respectfully stepped away from the microphone as a girl of medium stature and modest form with a demeanor that simply screamed prim and proper stepped onto the stage, her silky auburn hair pulled into a pair of twin tails that fell to her hips and she calmly pushed her side-swept bangs out of her eyes before standing stoically at the microphone before the audience, not a shred of unease visible on her doll-like features. Pink faces quickly scattered throughout the crowd, countless freshmen immediately smitten with the President's exquisite aesthetics. Barto himself felt an uncontrollable heat flood into his cheeks as he shifted uneasily, a notion not lost to Aya, whose cheeks turned hot as well but for entirely different reasons.

"She's pretty…" Barto could not help himself from uttering the words, as Aya's face burst before she quickly clamped her hands onto her mouth the keep herself from screaming at her childhood friend, before angrily slamming her foot down on Barto's. The sudden jolt of pain surged through Barto as he almost fell over crying out, instead biting down on his lip and shooting Aya a pitiful look that said "Why?". The girl simply frowned with her eyes closed at the floor, refusing to meet Barto's gaze.

"My dear fellow students, it is my greatest pleasure and absolute honor to be given the opportunity to welcome you to our fine school, where you will undoubtedly be pushed to your limits so as to achieve heights that you never thought possible. It is my second year here, and I know it will not be easy, but looking at the fine faces in this room right now, I know that you will be able to make it as well. This school has seen countless students come and go but one thing has never changed, everyone here is here for a reason, and you have been chosen to be the best that humanity can provide in our endeavors to take back the world which is rightfully ours. We-" The honey-coated voice was interrupted by the brash yet melodious shouts emanating from the second-floor balcony overlooking the hall, causing all eyes to fall on a head of similarly auburn hair attached to the body of a perfectly shapely and hyperactive body that jumped up and down as its owner called out playfully.

"Oi, Yumi-Chan! Over here! Onee-Chan is over here!" Everyone just stared at her, not quite knowing how to react apart from Yumiko who's ice cold façade was completely broken, her face now one of anger, annoyance and utter embarrassment as she struggled to keep herself from screaming at her older sister.

A much taller boy, exotically handsome in a wild way, grabbed the public disturbance from behind, dragging her away and out of the auditorium as she protested and struggled.

"Stop! Unhand me! Geez Ryou, I know I'm hot but control yourself!"

"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR THAT FROM YOU, YOU WALKING ABBERATION!"

The rest was cut off by the sound of a door slamming as the crowd tried to figure out exactly what just happened as Yumiko composed herself and continued with her speech. Barto slowly looked away from the balcony, the upperclassmen occupying it similarly confused by the turn of events, before whispering to Aya.

"Didn't that girl look kind of familiar?"

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"Let go! Unhand me, you brute! Didn't anyone ever teach you to handle a lady with care?" Ryouta finally released his unbelievably childish partner who now folded her arms and pouted at having been dragged away from the scene that she had created down the stairs to the backstage door so as not to get caught in the crowd should they still be around when the initiation briefing ended.

"You?! A lady?!" The dark chocolate-haired inheritor of the Absolute Zone blinked incredulously at the indignant beauty before him and burst out laughing, much to Yumiko's annoyance.

"Yeah! And your sister is the latest applicant to the WVSL!" Ryouta wheezed and struggled to catch his breath as Yumiko half-heartedly punched him in the shoulder before tossing her flawless hair with a "hmph!" Then as an afterthought, she turned back Ryouta with an inquisitive look on her face. Before Yukino's stunt, Ryouta had been trying to spot out Skye in the relatively small crowd of Platinum freshmen but "she" had been nowhere to be seen.

"Does your friend typically miss this kind of thing?"

"Well, "she's" not exactly a fan of authority but she usually plays along a lot more than I do. "She" doesn't like drawing attention to "herself"."

"She's definitely gonna be on _someone's_ list missing initiation like that. Le sigh, and I was so looking forward to meeting her too…" Yukino pouted childishly and exaggerated her disappointment and Ryouta fought the urge to laugh once more. Skye was going to kill him but it was so worth it. He was about to suggest going to check on him at his dorm room when the door burst open and a very furious Amatari Yumiko stomped out, her anger reaching a climax as she spotted her ironically older sister by one year and moved to confront her.

"What the hell was that?!" All signs of the prim and proper Student Council President were nowhere to be seen, replaced by an image that one would typically associate an elder sister with a pre-adolescent sibling. Yukino smiled brightly at her slightly shorter sister, always pleased when she was able to meet her. Despite everything, Yukino absolutely doted on her sister, and while Yumiko tended to always be infuriated by her, her elder sister was still one of those closest too her, although being Student Council President and the other being the Rank 1 in the school made them too busy to meet often. Yukino then faked her signature pout, fluttering her eyelashes making her look like a sad puppy.

"You're being really scary, Yumi-Chan~~" Yukino mumbled in a cutesy manner, obviously teasing Yumiko.

"I'm serious, Onee-Chan! Do you have any idea the kind of repercussions your actions could have?"

"Oh, all I did was call out to my kawaii imouto, it's not like I blew up the statue of Ryouta's dad…" Yukino's eyes widened as though she had been touched by sudden enlightenment as the idea shot into her head.

"Don't even think about thinking about it." Yumiko snapped before whirling on Ryouta.

"And you! Why didn't you stop her BEFORE she dragged the school's image through the mud?" Ryouta gulped and shifted his eyes left and right desperately trying to find a way out of this mess as he stammered trying to reply when he noticed a blinking light on his PDA.

"HEY, I have a call to take! Sorry, but it's REAAAALLY important so I'll just uh, leave you two to it, then! Play nice now!" He called as he raced down the hall waving with an awkward smile on his face and a drop of sweat falling from his forehead. Yumiko put her hands on her hip and frowned, still upset but finally calmed down. She sighed and composed herself, now slightly embarrassed at her outburst. She did not usually lose her cool and unsurprisingly, there was usually only one person that could bring out that side of her and do it easily. Yet, that same person was also the one most important to her.

"Ne, are you going to get in trouble cos of what I did?" Yumiko turned to face her sister her now wore a sheepish and apologetic look on her face. Yumiko sighed once more and waved off her worries.

"If anyone will get in trouble it's probably you but no harm was done so I doubt anyone's gonna touch The Strongest One." There was a hint of teasing as Yumiko said her sister's unofficial title, knowing full well that Yukino disliked how corny it sounded. That earned her a giggle from her sister who knew that the anger had subsided.

"But would it kill you to learn a little self-control?" Yumiko tilted her head and shook it as her sister playfully spun her body around in a dainty fashion and giggled.

"No, but where's the fun in that?" Yumiko was about to reply when Ryouta popped his head from around the end of the hall and called out to the two girls.

"Hey guys! My friend's in a bit of a pickle, I'm gonna go help "her" out."

Both sisters shared a look before both walking down to join the lone boy.

"Wait up, Ryou, we'll come with."

""We"? Wait, are you allowed to leave, Yumi?"

Yumiko shrugged.

"My job was just to give the speech. The rest of the community can handle the rest." Ryouta looked skeptical but thought no more of it and shrugged himself before leading the way out into the school's courtyard in the direction of Skye's dorm.

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Reinbo carefully snipped away at the dead buds on the beautiful product of nature before him, making precise incisions to remove any buds that were beyond hope so as to make room for new life, while taking care not to harm the plant itself. As he concentrated on his favorite hobby, he felt a breeze rustle his rainbow hair, fitting to him name, as it calmly flowed to his mid-back. Savoring the chilly wind, he took a glance at the Sakura trees that dotted the school's botanic gardens and marveled at the spectacle that was its magical pink leaves fading into the color of autumn.

Distracted, Reinbo suddenly felt a sharp pain on his finger and almost nonchalantly returned his gaze to his work, only to find an incision along his finger, pouring bright crimson on to the snow-colored roses he had been tending, turning them into a fiery dance of red and white. He sighed before gently laying down the scissors onto the gentle blades of grass before raising his wound to his lips and running his tongue over it. He proceeded to lick his wounds, not so much like a cat would lick theirs but more so like he was licking drips of melted ice cream off his fingers as the taste of iron zinged through his taste buds.

Physical pain meant nothing to him anymore.

As he licked his wounds, he suddenly felt something soft press against his ankle through his trousers before hearing a soft purr. He looked down curiously at the newcomer, finding a tiny ball of fur affectionately nudging against his leg before noticing that it was being watched. It turned its small head to look Reinbo in the eyes with its obscenely large and round orbs before tilting its head and letting out a soft "nyyaaaaaan". Reinbo gently picked up the kitten by the scruff of its neck, holding it up to his face as he stared at it curiously and it stared back with affection written all over its face as its body hung from Reinbo's hand. It then opened its mouth and licked Reinbo on the nose causing him to have to fight the urge to sneeze.

"Koneko-Chan? Where'd you go? You can't run around everywhere on your own like that! Koneko-Chan!" Both Reinbo and the kitten turned to face the source of the worried but light-hearted and somewhat husky voice, just in time to see a tall form, only a couple inches shorter than Reinbo's 6'1'', with messy hair tousling in the wind and an innocent looking face looking around in a searching manner, his pale skin a direct contrast to the dark blaser of his school uniform. His eyes eventually came to meet the unlikely duo of Reino and the kitten.

"Koneko-Ch- Eh, EEEEHHHH?!" The boy's eyes widened in fear as he recognized both the kitten that he had been looking for, as well as the most feared student and perhaps the most feared Arc in the school, Reinbo Yagumi Rushifa. He dumbly stammered with a fearful look on his face as he struggled to find something to say but at the same time fearing for his life should he say something wrong.

"Eh, urm, ah, I mean to say- that urm-" Reinbo and the kitten both turned to share a look with each other, both blinking with a blank look on their faces causing a mortified look to paint the newcomer's face, as he felt a spear through his heart.

 _This is it, this is the day I die. And I never finished learning how to play Moonlight Sonata. T.T_

The newcomer was still internally crying when he felt a pair of small paws prying at his trousers, looking down in surprise to find the kitten playfully pawing at him while looking at him with those hopelessly adorable eyes. Completely forgetting his situation he slowly bent over to pick it up before cradling it in his arms, eyeing it with annoyance yet a gentle demeanor.

"Geez, do you have any idea how long I've been looking for you? What if the groundskeeper found you?" He then suddenly remembered whose presence he was in and tensed up again and gulped, turning to look at the feared Demon King himself… tending to flowers… The boy lifted the kitten onto his shoulder before rubbing his eyes and blinking.

 _Wait what? Flowers?_

Although fear still clutched his soul, curiosity got the better of him as he slowly crept up on the rainbow haired tall yet skeletal boy who then eerily turned his expressionless slitted blood red eyes to look at the shorter less conspicuous boy. The boy gulped once more but this time mustered the courage to speak.

"Urm, I just wanted to uh- thank you, for looking after this troublemaker." As though on cue, the kitten then let out a yawn before falling asleep on his shoulder. Reinbo simply shrugged before returning to tending his flowers, causing the other boy to be at a loss, yet he pressed on.

"I'm Okumura Akihiko, but my friends call me Aki, or they would if I had… friends… But anyway, this kitten isn't actually mine, I found her wandering around the school grounds with no collar so I think she's a stray but I don't even know how she'd have found her way here but the school doesn't take kindly to strays so I decided I'd-" Aki cut off his babbling upon realizing that he was explaining himself for absolutely no reason but more so because he had absolutely 0% of Reinbo's attention. Curious, he instead shifted to a more inquisitive tone.

"What kinds of flowers are those?"

"Rosa Nixis. Snow Rose. They start to bloom this time of year when the temperature starts to go down."

"That's weird, I thought the cold made plants wilt, then grow back in spring?"

"It's a species from the Daemon world. I found them and planted them." His words were monotone and devoid of any emotion, as though he were a machine, and Aki decided not to even question where he had gotten them. Instead he took a glance at his PDA to check the time causing his eyes to widen again as he spun around and broke into a run, startling the kitten awake and causing it to dig its claws into his blaser to hold on.

"OW! Hey, uh, it was nice talking to you but I gotta go, I'll seeya around! Oh shit, oh shit, Uzumake-Sensei is going to kill me!"

Reinbo paid no heed to the fading footsteps, it was as though Aki had never been there. Instead, he turned his attention to the rose that had been stained with his blood and admired it.

"The colors are really dark this year."

 **Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"Come on, wake up! Hey! Can you hear me? Wake- oh why the hell am I even still trying." Skye finally gave up slapping his unconscious roommate who was still leaking an unreasonable amount of blood from her nose, her face stuck in a decidedly lewd expression as she continued smiling dumbly with her eyes closed. Skye fell back on his butt, sighing and checking the time, perfectly aware that the both of them had completely missed the initiation ceremony and were probably in a mountain of trouble.

 _What a wonderful start to my school life. I'm on the expressway to honor roll. The teachers are going to love me._

Not that Skye cared much for how well he would do in school, but he would rather not get stuck in detention for his first week in school. Staring at the ceiling and resigning to his fate, he absently rubbed the fiery crystal that seemed to glow red from within, tied around his neck as he waited for the help that he had called for to arrive. Skye was relatively fit for his size but there was no way he was going to be able to haul a girl who was bigger than him to the nurse's office in the main building alone.

Skye sighed and got up, walking back to his bed and putting on the pair of black trousers laid out on it, not wanting to set himself up for some kind of sexual joke should Ryouta find him half dressed in just his shirt. He then sat down onto his bedside with a tired sigh and stared out of the balcony door, into the deceptively peaceful sky. Funny how it only took the destruction of everything on the ground for the sky to look clear again. The sky had once brought him joy, a strange emotion he had yet to become familiar with, when admired with the right company. Now, it served only as a reminder of his blinding hatred.

" _Ne, Izumi-Chan."_

" _Yeah?"_

" _What do you think its like? To love someone?"_

 _ ***Snort***_

" _That's a dumb question. I can't love someone if I'm a heartless."_

" _You're not heartless."_

" _I'm a 12 year old who kills with no emotion and not so much as a blink of an eye. I'm a monster and you know what, I'm not ashamed of it."_

" _No. I know the monsters. And maybe you're right, maybe you are a monster. But even monsters have a heart. Even if it exists only as an ember, it's a fire that can never be extinguished."_

A wry smile spread on Skye's lips as he absently recalled the conversation, shaking his head sadly.

"Even monsters have a heart, huh?" Skye pushed away the memory, now knowing that the words were a naivety. If monsters did have hearts, it was only for him to tear them out. His morbid train of thought was interrupted by a knock on his door. He immediately got to his feet, patting down his untidy excuse of a uniform, before moving towards the door as a second knock came.

"Yeah, yeah, I hear ya." Skye shot in slight annoyance before opening the door.

"Geez, took ya long enough. What, 3 years in this school and you read the directions backwards?" Skye turned his nonchalant eyes to the guests at his door just in time to notice a girl roughly a head taller than him with long straight curtains of auburn hair that fell to the hems of her similarly untidy uniform, complete with an unbuttoned blazer, have her jaw hit the flaw and her cheeks turning bright pink, as her widened eyes took the expression of pure obsession.

Without warning she shot forward, faster than the average eye could track, pouncing on top of Skye before the situation could fully register in his head as he was pushed to the ground a good 4 feet away from where he had been standing with an indignant and exceedingly girly scream.

Ryouta held his right hand over his mouth, struggling to stifle his roars of laughter as he turned on his PDA's video recorder with his pinky finger while Yumiko stared dumbfounded as her older sister aggressively glomped the perceived girl under her weight.

"OH MY GOD, YOU'RE EVEN MORE ADORABLE THAN YOUR PICTURES, OH MY GOD I JUST WANT TO BRING YOU BACK TO MY ROOM AND USE YOU AS A PLUSHY FOREVER, GOSH YOUR CHEEKS ARE SO SOFT AND SQUISHY, ARE YOUR BOOBS AND BUTT THE SAME WAY?!"

Skye was utterly stunned as Yukino pulled on his cheeks as he struggled to get words out.

"Shwa- Shwrim shrnott- hngh- EH?!" Skyes eyes widened in Yukino's drooling and lustful face, more than just a little lewd from having been graced with seeing a true goddess, as her grip on his face cheeks transferred to the cheeks on his rear.

Finally realizing what was happening to him, Skye's face turned completely red as a mushroom cloud exploded from the top of his head as his lips trembled and he strove, to no avail, to suppress his scream.

"KYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

The screams of a damsel in distress were heard across the nation.

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 **Welp, that wraps it for this chapter, it's pretty much the second introductory chapter to introduce characters and the next chapter will be the third and final one before the story progresses. As far as pacing goes, I intend for every three chapters to roughly be equivalent in content to that of one anime episode, more or less, in terms of progression.**

 **Just a few more facts about the world. While students are divided into Platinum, Diamond and Obsidian, full-fledged Arcs are divided into levels, ranging from 1-6 with 6 being the highest. There are only 10 level 6s in existence and indeed, they are the 10 most powerful humans in existence.**

 **On the flip side, Daemon Lords also have varying levels of power. Most Daemon Lords approximate to about the same level as a level 5 although certain exceptionally powerful Daemon Lords, known as the "firstborn", wield enormous power, exceeding even that of level 6s. The most powerful firstborn is about as powerful as the bottom half of the level 6s put together, far more powerful than any individual human, and capable of wiping out entire battalions of standard soldiers, who are typically around level 3 or 4.**

 **Lastly, I update very sporadically and sometimes I'll take forever to update or sometimes I'll drop 2 chapters in a week, so it really depends on how I feel at the time haha I'm pretty tired right now so I'll leave my replies to reviews for the next chapter.**


	4. Chapter 3: I Blow at Names

**Yahoooo, minna-san! Vacation's started and I'm forcing my lazy self to get some motivation to write so here's a new chapter xD I'll prob have to definitely update my other 2 fics as well. I have been toying with an idea for a new fic that draws on most of my favorite themes that will probably be stupidly overcomplex, ie. It draws inspiration from Code Geass, The Legend of the Legendary Heroes, To Aru Kagaku No Railgun, Kaze no Stigma and a number of other material as well as tapping into actual mythology such as Angels and Demons, yeah, the Lucifer and Archangel kind, as well as other themes such as the Phoenix, Leviathan, Arthur Pendragon etc. It is also intended to touch on parallel universes, which I intend to use for crossovers with my other fics as well as anyone else's who wish to be involved xD Oh, and my character for it won't be the mc of the story, instead, she will be the primary antagonist which is an experiment of mine as well as something I've always been wanting to do haha So without further ado, let's get started!**

 **Also, just to notify, I got Rikuo's name mixed up as Rukio in the first chapter so I'm just gonna ascertain one last time that her name is Rikuo, not Rukio.**

A set of heavyset shoulders shifted slightly as the cargo-bay ramp of the transport hovercraft hailing from Sloth lowered, bathing the darkness of the cabin in the lukewarm dying light of the setting sun. Anthon Jay Wallin slowly opened his cold eyes, one the light green of a clear sea and the other a spot of red magma in a pool of black darkness, as he reflexively flexed his right "arm", a cybernetic marvel that completely filled the row of the limb that should have been and more. He gazed non-chalantly at the skeletal metal fingers as he moved them, not paying attention to the other military personnel swiftly undoing their safety harnesses and dismounting, before uncrossing his legs and unbuckling his own, grabbing his duffel bag from beside him and stuffing his mechanical hand into the pocket of his dark trench coat.

Rustling his short and spikey brown hair with his flesh and bone left hand, he stood up on both his metal legs, absently wondering if he was more machine than man, and started following the line of passengers making their way down the ramp before catching eye of a middle-aged man in a crisp military uniform that bore the insignia of his homeland's Aegis Corps staring right at him with an impassive expression. Anton knew right away that he had just spotted his liaison in Wrath, and made his way over, causing the stoic poster impression of a military man to salute him, before he crisply returned the salute.

"Commander, it's an honor to meet you."

"No need for the formalities, Lieutenant. You should know that I serve a different outfit and am part of a separate chain of command. Anton will do."

"As you wish, si- I mean, Anton."

"So what do you have for me?" Anton asked as he walked past the soldier, not even bothering to make sure that the man was following him.

"I have arranged for direct transportation to the Tokyu-Central Main Terminal where you may have your meal if you wish, before you take the Academy Train to the Academy Island at 20 45 hours. There should not be many passengers on the night trains so it should be easier to stay inconspicuous. Here is your ticket." Anton extended his hand without even looking back and took the piece of paper from the older man, giving it one good look to confirm its details before neatly pushing it into the left side pocket of his dark trench coat.

"If I may, Sir-"

"Anton."

"Right, Anton, if I may say, don't you think wearing a bulletproof vest around in public might raise a few eyebrows?"

Anton paused, taking a moment to glance down at the bulletproof vest he always wore over his plain black t-shirt, always wanting to be prepared for a fight at all times, before turning his eyes to the soldier, finally reading his name tag.

"Lieutenant Forst, I have one eye from the gates of hell, 3 metal limbs and power sockets out the sides and back of my head. Need I say more?"

The soldier gulped as a bead of sweat trickled from his forehead, momentarily breaking his otherwise impeccable professional image before giving a curt nod and a bow as though to signify his apologies before giving a salute and marching away, leaving Anton to sigh and resume walking to the black sedan, with tinted windows that made Anton scoff, that awaited him.

 _Can they be anymore cliché?_

Anton climbed in and the driver immediately drove off, leaving Anton to settle himself into the backseat, before plugging a device into the socket on the left side of his head, causing a holographic screen to extend over his eyes. Anton mentally opened his mission files and started going over them, skimming through the parts where he was to adjust to school life and learn from the culture here, skipping straight to the objectives he was more familiar with, before stopping over a picture of a female face that could only be described as heavenly.

"And what secrets are _you_ hiding?

 **Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Uzumake Shin patiently took another glance at the time, giving a sigh before returning his attention to the student lists of his classes for the semester. He had already went through each and every one of their backgrounds as well as any other data that the school had on them, such as any notable skills outside of anything Aegis or Mana related. The experienced teacher just wanted to be able to match the names to their faces by the time classes started. A few individuals had already stuck with him, a few girls, two of whom had been noted to have had ties to that gang of female delinquent youths, WVSL, one who had had a childhood as a refugee, one who had her mother murdered by a fellow Arc and finally the last one who had interested him the most.

What interested him about her, was how little information there was on her outside of her name and date of birth. Even her gender was listed as a question mark. Her history stated that she had been from a village outside the walls that had been massacred by Daemons, leaving her the sole survivor, all very tragic but that was the thing. There was nothing on her background past the age of 5. Not even how she had been brought to Wrath.

 _Skye Farris. Farris… Isn't that-_

"Gomenasai!" Shin's thoughts were interrupted by a light-hearted voice as he turned to its source, his expression instantly turning from one that was deep in thought to that of a warm-hearted fatherly figure.

"This won't do, Aki-Kun." Shin said in an almost teasing voice with a smile, as Aki stumbled to a stop, bent over and panting with his arms crossed over his mid-section.

"It's one thing to be late from our private lessons but what if you were late for a mission briefing or even worse, being somewhere you need to be in the middle of a mission? Punctuality is one of the most basic and essential parts of being an Arc." Shin's lecture was firm but not unkind. He did not believe in being harsh on his students and was always warm to them.

Aki raised his face with his large hazelnut eyes in the startling impression of a puppy before bowing profusely.

"I'm so, so sorry! It's just that, urm, ah, something kinda came up and I…"

Shin sighed before putting his hands on his hips and gave Aki a warm smile while he tilted his head.

"Did it have something to do with whatever is under your shirt?"

"Eh?" Aki's boy-band poster face shot back to give Shin a surprised look, his body still bent over trying to hide the squirming bundle that was under his uniform.

"Urm, ah, that's urm, hey wait!" Aki tried and failed to stop the little white kitten from wriggling free of his grasp and jumping down to his feet from under his shirt before shaking its body and sitting down on his left foot, giving its paw a lick before it looked at Shin and gave a meow.

Shin's smile never left his face as he looked from the kitten back at Aki who was now awkwardly trying to avoid Shin's gaze.

"I never pegged you for a cat person, Aki-Kun."

"Ah, ha ha, ha, ha…" Aki laughed awkwardly as Shin's expression never changed once before Aki finally cracked.

"Okay, okay! I found her wandering the school grounds alone and picked her up because you know animals aren't allowed on the grounds. She didn't have a collar so I think she's a stray, although I have no clue how she got on the island, but I couldn't bear the thought of what the groundsman would do to her if he found her so I, I, and-"

"Akihiko. Relax."

Aki let out a deflated sigh and hung his head.

"Gomene…."

"Never mind that, what do you intend to do with her?"

"Eh? Well, urm, I was, kind of, eh, thinking of…. Keep..ing… her?" Aki smiled awkwardly as the words left his mouth.

"Ah, so what you're saying is that you openly admit you were intending to throw the school rulebook out the window." The fatherly warmth never once left Shin's face. Aki's expression turned dejected as he twiddled his fingers around. Shin let him panic a little more before giving a chuckle and shaking his head.

"Well then, I guess it's probably a good thing I never saw an adorable white kitten today. And also that I haven't cleaned my ears in a while so I couldn't quite hear you through the ear wax."

"Wha-?" Aki's eyes widened in confusion before he understood what his teacher was saying.

"Oh my gosh! Thank you so much, Sensei! I promise I'll make sure she doesn't cause any trouble! Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"No, no, don't thank me, I'm not allowed to let you break the rules, I just didn't happen to see anything." Shin held is hands out in a calming gesture before clearing his throat.

"Now, set your little friend aside and activate your Aegis. Let us begin the lesson."

 **Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"Kyaaaaaaah!"

Izuha almost tripped over her own feet when she heard the scream, her startled eyes instantly shooting in the direction of the Dorm block ahead of her.

 _What the hell?_

Izuha stood there just staring at the building, waiting for some sort of sign that it had not just been her imagination but nothing happened and there was no movement to be seen. Still slightly uneasy, she double checked the details on her dorm room, confirming that this was indeed her block, before slowly continuing her walk to the building, only a few other students who had seemingly not noticed the scream walking around her. Most of the students had stayed behind to get to know their new classmates but socializing was not exactly her strong suit, thus she had decided to make her way to her dorm room first, hoping to find it before the corridors got crowded with freshmen.

She finally found it on the third floor, holding up her PDA to the reader on the door, granting her entry. She stepped in and walked down a small narrow hall and past the open door of the empty bathroom that looked adequately comfortable to her, with a bathtub that had a built in shower as well as a spacious counter, not that she had many toiletries that would occupy much space. Stepping into the main body of the room, she was pleasantly surprised to find that it was much more luxurious than she had anticipated, being closer to a hotel room than an actual school dormitory. She found her 2 bags lying next to the dining table, along with 3 other bags decorated heavily in goth and punk décor along with the words "#WVSL, SISTERS 4 LIFE" stitched in neon purple into the side of the largest bag.

Upon seeing this, Izuha did a double take and fumbled with the buttons on her PDA, bringing up her acceptance letter as well as the name of her partner on the screen.

 _Touzaki Kara… Diamond Class_

Izuha turned back to look at the bags of her assigned partner whom she had yet to meet groaning to herself.

 _You've got to be kidding me…_

In that same moment, she heard the door open once more and turned to find a hulk of a girl step into the room, a ridiculous amount of makeup masking her face with so many piercings on her skin she might as well be a disco ball. Kara furiously tapped away at the screen of her PDA, presumably text messaging someone and paid Izuha no heed at all as she threw herself onto the inner bed of the room, not once even looking at Izuha.

Izuha's eye twitched furiously as an awkward look spread on her face, completely dumbfounded by this turn of events, when Kara finally turned her eyes to glance at her partner, not even stopping with her text messaging.

"The fuck are you looking at?"

 **xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

 **6.32 P.M.**

"Here's your cheeseburger meal, mam, no lettuce, as requested. Would you like to try our new soy sauce sushi flavored fries?"

"I'm not a, * **sigh** * why do I even bother…. No thank you." Skye sighed and turned away from the cashier who had tended to his order and walked back to the table where Ryouta and the Amatari sisters waited for him, both Yukino and Ryouta covering their giggles with their hands. Even the corners of Yumiko's mouth were slightly upturned as she struggled to maintain her composure as Skye tried his hardest to ignore the fact that every pair of eyes, male and female, were lustfully fixated on him.

"You know everyone in the cafeteria is staring at you right, both guys AND girls?" Yukino teased, having finally been made aware of Skye's true gender.

"And thank you, for making me think about it." Skye replied sarcastically, although not in an entirely rude manner.

"It can't really be helped, considering how you look." Yumiko tried to chime in helpfully, to which Skye flashed a small appreciative smile, although her words did not make him feel any better, setting his tray down and taking a seat next to Ryouta.

"Have you always looked-"

"Looked like that? Yup, our little Skye-Chan's been causing nosebleeds since I met him 9 years ago, even when he was 6." Ryouta answered Yumiko's curiosity in a much too cheerful voice.

"That's not creepy at all…." Skye retorted dryly, taking a sip from his drink.

"So how did you meet my partner anyway?" Yukino gave Skye a sweet smile, hinted with a slightly apologetic look for her earlier outburst and groping.

"Well you see-"

"Aaaaanndd before this moron gives you anymore misinformation, my sister used to fight together with Kyouta-San. My parents were killed when I was younger, and I was adopted by Onee-San, so she was really all I had. So when she wasn't around, she'd usually leave me with Ryouta's mum to take care of me."

"Oh…" Yukino and Yumiko's smiles both faded upon hearing Skye's almost too casual summary of his early life, both sharing a look with one another. Even Ryouta did not add in any witty comments to Skye's delivery.

Realizing that he had killed the mood, Skye instead turned his attention to the chocolate and strawberry swirl ice cream cone on his tray taking a few licks from the creamy dessert, however, even such a simple gesture tended to look… different in the eyes of his many newfound admirers, as every male in the Academy's cafeteria got a massive nose bleed. Skye then set his tray down at the table, next to Ryouta, as he finished his ice cream and licked around the inside of the cone to get out the last of the creamy sweetness, causing every female in the cafeteria to get a massive nose bleed.

"You know, it's not good for you to have your dessert before your meal." A most mature comment from the Student Council President.

"Leave him be, Skye's so used to _being_ dessert that it's all he can think about." Ryouta chimed in playfully, wagging his eyebrows at Yukino, who snorted and started laughing.

Skye simply sat down calmly before smiling sweetly.

"Mmmm, of course. There are some things I can never unsee, like that year during your dad's birthday when you stripped naked and covered yourself completely in-" Skye's cheerful reminiscent was rudely interrupted when Ryouta's expression turned from playful to absolutely mortified before he grabbed Skye and cupped his hand over the younger boy's mouth, a look of desperation on his face as Skye struggled to get words and his breathe out.

"Mmmmgggghghghghghg-"

"SHUT UP, THAT'S NOT SOMETHING YOU JUST RUN YOUR MOUTH ABOUT!" Ryouta's voice was a mixture of a shriek and a whisper before he flashed the Amatari Sisters, who both had an eyebrow raised in an identical quizzical expression, an awkward smile, all the while holding down a struggling Skye.

"Ah, Skye suffers from severe chronic disorders, poor guy. He doesn't know what he's talking about, you know he claimed that he went toe to toe against my dad in a sparring match? HA! Him! Imagine! The little kidder, ah ha ha ha AAAAAHHHHHH!"

Ryouta let out a high-pitched scream as he snatched his hand away from Skye's mouth, a visibly red bite mark appearing in between his thumb and index finger as Skye struggled to catch his breath.

"Next ti- * **cough** * time you do that again, I'm telling Tsunkasa you tried _something_ on me."

Ryouta suddenly froze up, his face turning as pale as a sheet, and his expression turning into one of intense fear, knowing how much his mother adored Skye, as he slowly turned towards Skye, in an almost clockwork motion. Yumiko and Yukino both shared a curious look, wondering what the cause for Ryouta's sudden change in demeanor was.

"Y-y-you wouldn't…."

Skye stopped coughing and half-opened his eyes to casually glance at his best friend, his small dainty lips slowly curling into a mischievous smile as he gave Ryouta a playful wink before his expression suddenly contorted into one of fear and sadness, his eyes suddenly watering up as blood rushed to his nose, turning its tip bright pink, and he suddenly started sobbing, loud enough that everyone in the cafeteria fell silent and what little attention that hadn't been cast on him before was now completely devoted to his delicate form.

He clutched the sides of his shoulders, crossing his arms over his chest, making him seem incredibly vulnerable, as Ryouta flew into a full blown panic, trying futilely to stop what he knew his best friend was doing, and both the Amatari Sisters watched with awkward disbelief at the spectacle before them.

"No way….. How could you do this to me, Ryouta-Senpai…..* **sob** * After all that I've given you, my heart and even my body… * **sob** *" Skye's voice had suddenly turned from its usual haughty and calm tone to one befitting of an emotional wreck, his already feminine voice rising a few pitches that left absolutely no indication left of his true gender, his voice indiscernible from that of a heartbroken teenaged girl. Actual tears started flowing from his eyes, 2 drops trickling down his cheek before finally finding their way into his food.

Every pair of eyes that had been fixated on him started tearing up, completely and utterly falling for the "Princess" who had just "had her heart broken" before they all turned to Ryouta, burning with an unimaginable fury that would melt Satan's toilet bowl. Ryouta scanned the crowd fearfully, entirely aware of the situation he had just been put in by his ruthless friend. A cold whisper started spreading throughout the crowd-turned-mob who were now closing in on Ryouta.

"The accused is Hazuki Ryouta, accused of the heinous crime of causing hurt to a Goddess."

"The judgment is guilty."

"Burn the heretic."

The entire mob comically grabbed their utensils and trays, as though they were torches and pitchforks before charging at Ryouta, shouting in fury. With a panicked shout, Ryouta shot off out of the cafeteria doors like a bullet, the angry mob following closely behind as Ryouta's echoed declaration of vengeance was heard over their battle-cries.

"I'M GONNA GET YOU GOOD FOR THIS, SKYE!"

In less than a minute, the cafeteria was completely emptied, save for Skye and the Amatari Sisters who turned from the now empty doorway of the cafeteria back to Skye, matching looks that combined fear, awe, and disbelief covered their faces as Skye daintily wiped both his nose and eyes with a napkin before smirking at the direction where Ryouta had taken off, before nonchalantly picking one of the french fries from Ryouta's abandoned meal and placing it into his mouth in a sassy manner that emphasized the softness of his lips, as though he had not just instigated an entire mob to hunt his best friend.

"You are one incredibly scary individual, you know that?" Yukino said, in slight trepidation, suddenly aware that she had earlier completely assaulted the dignity of the little devil in front of her. Skye only flashed the sisters a haughty half-smile before taking another sip of his drink.

 **xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

 **9.27 P.M**

" _Fucking traitor bitch."_

" _Tokisaki scum."_

" _Drink water from the dog bowl, bitch."_

" _I should cut your legs off, you meddling little asshole. Maybe your mother would like to play with them?"_

" _Jessabelle, my lovely daughter."_

" _Get out of my sight, Ruki. You're not one of us anymore."_

 _Rikuo clasped her hands over her ears, a useless gesture for all the tormenting voices came from within as she was constantly assaulted by the voices and images of her past. Her eyes were squeezed shut, similarly futilely trying to block out the images of her friends being torn apart by Daemons, as she ran down an endless void of pure darkness, no sign of any light, any hope to grasp onto._

 _Rikuo's limbs were in agony as her legs crumbled under running for what seemed to be an agonizing eternity as she bent forward, while on her knees, trying to bury herself under her arms, at first whimpering before crying out in torment._

" _Stop. Please shut up. Shup up, shut up, SHUT UP!" All her remaining strength drained out as she started crying, tears escaping her tightly shut eyes as she sobbed endlessly, unable to cope with the memories that assaulted her._

" _Hey, are you… alright?" Rikuo's turquoise eyes, the color of a frozen ocean, shot wide open with a gasp, as she slowly looked up to the source of the impossible voice. She had been trapped in this abyss of torment for years, every time she closed her eyes, but never had she not been alone in her misery, never had she heard such a beautiful voice. The voice did not seem all that familiar, but she was sure she had heard that melodic and angelic, yet slightly husky and deep voice before._

 _Rikuo's heart skipped a beat as her vision touched the petite figure, radiating a light that seemed to eat away the darkness that had always been around her, that bent forward over her, graceful features shaped into an expression of concern and curiosity as the figure, clad in nothing but a simple white dress tilted her head slightly in a curious manner._

 _Rikuo knew her name, the name of the same Goddess that she had seen earlier in her room. What was it…_

" _Skye… Goddess…"_

 _Skye seemed slightly taken aback by Rikuo's wide-eyed response, the taller girl still on her knees and in shock and awe of the beautiful presence with which she had been graced. After her initial surprise, Skye giggled slightly, an angelic and girly sound that seemed to lift the weight off Rikuo's heart, before standing up straight before offering Rikuo a soft smile with her soft and small lips, extending her hand to the platinum blonde girl._

 _Rikuo stared at the small and dainty hand, that seemed so delicate she was scared to grab it to hard. She was also shocked for it was the first time in such a long while that someone had extended a hand to her without the intention of striking her. She slowly reached out with her own hand, as though she had finally found hope and it was all she had to cling onto, and as the tips of two slender fingers touched, her vision faded to white._

Rikuo's eyes opened to the glaring light of the lamp above her, causing her to groan in annoyance, as her brain started to gather once more and it registered to her that she was laying on a medical bed.

 _Why the fuck would any half-brained moron think it would be a good idea to put the fucking sun right above a bed._

Sitting up slowly, Rikuo found that her body felt slightly weak but after a short while, her strength started to return, causing her to notice a waste basket next to her bed that was filled to the brim with bloody tissues, causing her to raise an eyebrow.

 _What the fuck?_

The sight of her own blood suddenly brought back memories of the fountain of blood that had exploded from her nose and with that, came the memory of the first time she laid eyes on her partner. The thought of her partner brought back the memory of her dream and the moment where their fingers touched replayed in her mind causing her heart to sink slightly.

 _Of course it was just a dream… Kindness…. Sympathy…. What a joke._

Rikuo sighed, chiding herself for actually believing something good was actually happening to her for once in her life. She had long since grown used to life fucking you over and giving nothing back. She smoothed down her short, nape length hair that had been slightly ruffled by her sleep (if you would call anemia-induced unconsciousness, sleep), scanning the room idly, finding that she was the only patient in the infirmary and that the nurse, a long blue-haired woman with an abnormally large chest, who had fallen asleep at her desk. Rikuo looked down and saw that her dirty blouse had been exchanged for a gym t-shirt that emphasized her athletic build and average curves, although her skirt and dusk colored leggings remained the same.

As quietly as she could manage, Rikuo slipped on her black mary janes and silent sneaked out of the room, shooting a glance at the nurse, whose name tag read "Natsume", as she passed and saw that she seemed to be in the middle of a "pleasant" dream and had a dumb smile on her face as she drooled slightly onto her desk. Rikuo rolled her eyes before quietly exiting, finding a dark empty hallway, motion-sensing lights flickering on as soon as she stepped out, devoid of any other human life. Rikuo took a quick look at her PDA and found that it was already well into the night, explaining the empty corridors, causing her to sigh in relief for she would not have to deal with any hostile looks or deal with anyone really.

Following the corridor and signs, she finally found her way to the building's main entrance and retraced her steps back to her dorm room. Upon arriving, she noticed that the same pair of shoes sitting at the door, in addition to a pair of grey high-top sneakers. Suddenly feeling a sense of déjà vu, Rikuo felt her blood rush to her cheeks as she struggled to maintain her composure, refusing to allow a repeat of the afternoon's embarrassing events. Refusing to be seen that way, especially by such a cute girl, Rikuo took several deep breathes to compose herself before setting her determination to wash her face and look as cool as possible to the beauty she fully intended to pursue romantically.

With a nod of determination, Rikuo put on her game face, and pushed open the door to the bathroom… Finding a very much naked Skye Farris standing under the showerhead in the bathtub, in the midst of lathering his impossibly smooth skin with soap. Skye suddenly froze, becoming aware of Rikuo's presence as they both stared at one another blankly.

Rikuo took in Skye's full bare form, first appreciating how ridiculously beautiful he was, even with a blank expression, his angelic features pulsed with beauty and his non-curvaceous body had just enough curves to make his body seem feminine while his delicate form resembled that of a fairy. Rikuo would honestly have thanked god for gracing her unworthy eyes with such a treasure, were it not for her noticing a certain _something extra_ on his lower body.

After a full second, Skye's face suddenly completely flushed as his lips started to tremble and his expression contorted indignantly as he realized that his dignity had been compromised as he simultaneously let out an incredibly high-pitched scream and sank to hide his entire body save his face inside the bathtub.

"KYYAAAAAAAAH! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, YOU FUCKING PERVERT!"

Rikuo was caught completely off guard as her face flushed even more turning away as she cried out slightly, although she could not stop herself from turning her eyes slightly to keep looking at his face, his shame causing him to somehow look even prettier and more innocent as she struggled to hold back another massive nosebleed.

"I wasn't- I didn't- I just wanted to wash my face and didn't realize- WAIT, YOU'RE A BOY?!" Rikuo could not help herself from feeling betrayed.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, OF COURSE I'M A BOY, WAIT THAT'S NOT THE ISSUE HERE, KONNO HENTAI!" Skye cried out in embarrassment and anger, his reaction causing him to seem even more girlish, further fueling the conflict between Rikuo's lust for the effeminate boy and her anger at having been deceived, even though Skye had never actually claimed to be a girl.

"LIKE I SAID, I WASN'T IN HERE TO PEEP ON- WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING LOOKING LIKE THAT THEN?!"

"WHAT ARE YOU EVEN SAYI- WHAT ARE YOU STILL DOING HERE, GET OUT YOU PERVERT!"

Rikuo slammed the door behind her and took a moment to register what had just happened. Irrational and unfounded feelings of betrayal filled her as she realized that she had subconsciously been holding on to the tiny sliver of hope that her dream had given her, that maybe this "Goddess" would finally bring her life some good. She violently wiped away the blood from her nose on her sleeve before feeling a slight pain on the skin of her chest as the pendant she wore around her neck scrape across her skin. Remembering what its contents were, she angrily tore it from her neck and throwing it hard onto the floor before exploding back out of the dorm room and slamming the door.

 _Fucking lying, faking, two-faced piece of shit. Just like the rest of them. Fuck all of them._

Her anger was further fueled by the knowledge deep down that Skye had done none of her accusations and that she was the one guilty of most of them herself, further hating herself for throwing her all her anger at someone she had just met. Yet, she could not help herself, and she felt just as helpless as she ever had.

 **Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Skye heard the sound of the door slam as he simply sat in the tub with his knees to his chest, cheeks still burning red from the experience before he slowly got up and rinsed the soap from his body, before wrapping himself in a towel and slowly creaked the bathroom door open, peeking out slowly even though he had heard his partner leave. Skye thought about the encounter and considered the fact that it was much more probable that his roommate had accidentally walked in on him as he had neglected to lock the door, expecting her to be unconscious much longer given how much blood she lost.

"Way to overreact, Farris." Skye sighed as he chided himself for his impulsive reaction of having his bare body seen.

 _Today's been amazing for first impressions._

The vertically challenged boy was about to close the door to put on his clothes when he noticed something glistening on the floor. A pendant, which looked to have been smashed open by impact lay on the carpeted ground, a small chip in the wall indicating where it had struck. Skye bent down, picking him up, droplets of water dripping from his wet hair as he gently picked up the pendant, saw two young girls, clad in middle school uniforms beaming brightly at the camera, recognizing one of them as Rikuo from her blonde hair and turquoise eyes, with the other having a ridiculously mature body given her assumed age with luscious raven hair and hazel eyes, her skin a bronze that contrasted greatly with Rikuo's fair, pink-tinted skin. The two looked to be a perfectly matching day and night. The two girls had their shoulders and heads leaning onto one another while pressing their hands together in front of them with Rikuo smiling a great toothy smile that spilled a happiness that he had not sensed from her earlier while her friend opted for a more mysterious and seductive smile.

Skye gave the front door a short look before sighing, then hurriedly threw on a loose t-shirt and sweat pants before leaving out the door after his partner.

"What the hell are you doing, konno baka…"

Skye himself did not know if he was referring to Rikuo or himself.

 **Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

The can of milk tea landed with a clang in the dispenser of the vending machine of the small resting area around the back of the dorm building. Rikuo plucked it out before leaning back against the machine and popping the can open, taking a large swig and thankful for the sudden sugar rush blanking her mind for just a moment, making her feel much better, considering she had went the entire day barely drinking anything, having nothing to eat and losing half her blood.

"Well well well, look what the cat dragged in." The hairs on Rikuo's neck stood on end as she instantly recognized the familiar voice, causing her heart to tighten. She slowly raised her head, careful not to let her emotion show, to spot her best friend turned nemesis and tormenter, Kirishima Emi, flanked by two other scowling members of the WVSL, all clad in their sleeping clothes, one comically in teddy bear pyjamas, while in Emi's case, she wore simply her unbuttoned blouse over a lacey bra that showed off much of her ample cleavage and a pair of shorts. Emi never wore make up anyway, not requiring it to enhance her natural beauty but in the case of her two lackeys, the lack of makeup due to bedtime made them look astonishingly young, causing Rikuo to remember how small and vulnerable each member of the gang had been before being taken into the family.

Despite her best efforts, Rikuo could not hide her red eyes and stained face, causing Emi to smirk as she put her face right up to Rikuo's.

"I really can't seem to get rid of you pathetic ass, can I? You just pop up everywhere I go, like a persistent little cockroach." Rikuo refused to turn away from Emi, but said nothing in return.

"What's the matter? Partner couldn't stand your guts already?" Emi chuckled, causing Rikuo to break eye contact, turning away as the mention of Skye caused her to remember how lonely she was.

Disgusted, Emi slapped the can out of Rikuo's hand, causing its contents to spill all over the floor as Rikuo's poker face finally broke and her lip trembled slightly as years of torment caught up with her before Emi brought her knee up hard, straight into Rikuo's abdomen, causing her to fall onto her knees and keel over choking and dry heaving, holding one hand to her belly and one hand to her mouth. Had she had anything to eat all day, she would have vomited right there.

"Pathetic."

"Oh that's rich." All four girls were startled by a sudden chuckle and swung their heads towards the voice, finding the form of Skye Farris casually walking towards them, a condescending smile plastering his face, his hazel eyes impassive and leaking a sense of superiority.

"Yada, yada, 3 of you ganging up on 1 of her, and you don't even feel embarrassed when you call her pathetic. That's so pathetic and sad, it kind of makes my heart break, I almost want to just hug you tight and comfort you." The venom and condescension practically dripped from his husky voice, now a tone deeper than usual. As he approached, he felt surprised for just a moment, as he recognized Rikuo's lead tormenter as the other girl from her picture before he came to understand the situation, at least slightly.

"Wha- * **cough** * what the fuck are you doing here?" Rikuo's voice came as a pained whisper as she struggled to catch her breathe as Emi put two and two together, realizing that she was looking at Rikuo's partner, before her surprised expression was replaced with her signature smirk before she snapped her fingers, causing her two underlings to advance on Skye before she proceeded herself before she towered over Skye's petite frame.

"Ah, and here I was wondering what kind of unlucky sap got Ruki as their partner. My, my, aren't you a cute, delicious little muffin. Hey Ruki, don't you ever get tired of making others fight your fights for you to bail you out?"

Despite being smaller than all 3 girls surrounding him, Skye simply looked bored, with his eyes half closed as he let out a yawn.

"Fighting for HER?" Skye let out a laugh.

"What, are you a regular comedian now? Who the fuck do you take me for, fucking Batman?" Both underlings were taken aback before starting to glare at the tiny assumed girl in front of them, about to beat the living shit out of "her" for speaking to their leader with such disrespect before being silenced with a raise of Emi's finger, who simply seemed impressed.

"I've got to hand it to you, it's been a long time since anyone had the guts to talk to me like that. You're a brave one; I'll give you that. What's your name?"

"Hazuki Kyouta, great war hero and quite the ladies man." Skye replied with sarcastic eloquence, causing Emi to chuckle.

"Well, "Hazuki Kyouta, great war hero and quite the ladies man." I think you have what it takes to be one of the Skull Ladies. You'd have an entire family watching your back and never do we turn our backs on one another. You'd be a lot better off than with _this_ traitorous scum."

Skye simply raised an eyebrow, as though to say "You must be joking".

"Thanks but if I wanted gang up on others just so I can stroke an ego the size of the moon and feel better about my sorry self, I'd join the 'Dumb Jock Association'." Emi's smile slowly faded as she started to grow tired of Skye's insolent manner.

"I don't think you're thinking about the situation you're in." At her words, Emi's two underlings slowly started advancing on Skye, cracking their knuckles. Not even fazed, Skye leaned forward and whispered only for Emi to hear.

"The only thing I'm thinking about is what kind of scum turns her back on her best friend and throws her to the wolves."

Upon hearing his words, Emi froze as her eyes widened, actually stepping back from Skye whose smile had disappeared, his expression now blank apart from the fact that he seemed to stare straight into her soul, gaping at him as all three other girls froze, disbelieving that this tiny and frail form had just caused Kirishima Emi to back off.

All parties seemed to be locked in a stare off for a moment, while Skye simply seemed as nonchalant as ever, even scratching his head through his silky hair. Finally, Emi managed to shake herself out of it, resuming her usual demeanor, although she could not completely hide the slight shakiness in her voice.

"I'm done with this. We're outta here girls." She did a circling motion with her fingers before walking back in the direction of the elevator lobby, her two lackeys in tow. With her back turned to everyone else, no one could see as a small smile spread on her lips.

Skye casually walked up to the vending machine, dropping in a coin and dispensing a bottle of chocolate milk, with Rikuo staring at him all the while. As Skye collected his bottle of milk, he turned his half-closed eyes towards Rikuo, a slight blush in his face due to his earlier embarrassment, before extending his hand to her.

"You gonna get back on your feet or just kneel there all night, because I'm not waiting for you." Rikuo gasped slightly as her mind shot back to her earlier dream, replaying its final moments as she slowly extended her hand to grasp Skye's, surprised at how strong, yet gentle his grip was.

Maybe God did not see fit to send her a delicate and loving Goddess. Instead, he had sent her one of war.

 **Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

 **Derp derp, okie, as I said before, I probably WON'T be giving up on any of my fics, but the three I have at the moment might go on hiatus while I work on a new one I've come up with until I get the "feel" for the other 3 again cos I don't want to force myself to write and end up producing something crappy x.x**


	5. Chapter 4: Let The Bodies Hit The Floor

**I'm not really sure what to write here so ima just get started haha, though this might be a slightly short chapter.**

 **Also, a little update.**

 **Basically there are 2 classes for both Diamond and Platinum while there is only 1 class for Obsidian and each class has about 24 people or so. The format for classes are as so, Year-(Division)(Class) with A to C representing Obsidian to Platinum respectively. So for example, Class 1-B2 would be Year 1 Diamond Class 2 or Class 3-A would be Year 3 Obsidian Class.**

 **At some point, I might release the full curriculum for each division to show exactly what the students learn.**

 **Also, quick note, the dates I'd listed before were wrong, the year is 2202 and not 2212.**

"Black and smooth, just the way you like it?"

An elegant and symphonious female voice inquired in a rather playful tone as her renowned guest sighed in exasperation from the lush sofa of her office.

"It's been Lili, would it kill you to have a little more self-control like your kid brother?"

"And where's the fun in that?" The tall form of Lili Farris teased as she finished stirring the coffee she had prepared, setting the cups on small plates before carrying them over to her old partner, setting them down on the small coffee table.

"*Sigh* You remind me of someone my son never stops complaining about."

Lili smiled a sweet yet cocky smile, one not at all dissimilar from that of her adoptive brother's, as she took a sip from her own milky beverage, not sharing Hazuki Kyouta's preference for a bitter taste.

"So, what brings a busy man like you to my humble little dwelling? And on the anniversary of the day you saved Japan, no less." Kyouta snorted, almost spiting out his drink. Had it been anyone else, he would have simply politely smiled and went along with it, but coming from someone who had been there like Lili, it came off as nothing more than patronization.

"Enough with the jokes, Lil. I'm serious."

"Hmm." Lili said nothing more, simply sipping her drink and remaining impossible to read.

Kyouta stood up, walking over to a pegboard where dozens of polaroid pictures had been collected and pinned up over the years, many of the faces within, he had seen come and go. Right in the center, was one slightly burned on the edge, which seemed to depict two unearthly beautiful young girls, a smaller one sitting in front with one knee to her chest and the other leg bent and resting on the ground in front of her, a half-smile splayed across her lips with a pair of hazel eyes that seemed far older than they had any business being. The other, Lili herself, was standing behind her, eyes closed with a playful grin dominating her face, as she bent forward messing up the smaller girl's already messy shoulder-length hair with one hand and holding up a peace sign with the other. Not many people realized that this was a photo of only one female and a boy.

"What are you planning?"

Lili coughed a little at the sudden question.

"Say what now?"

"You know what I mean. Why is Skye attending Shimatsu like a normal kid?"

Lili giggled a little at the question.

"So Shimatsu is a school for _normal_ kids now?"

"I'm not playing, Lili. Putting aside the issue of _what_ he is, after all he's been through… How does sticking him with regular teenagers seem remotely like a good idea?"

The smile dimmed slightly from Lili's lips, a wave of sadness overcoming her as it always did at the thought of her beloved brother's suffering.

"I understand your concerns, Kyou, but it was his decision to make."

Kyouta opened his mouth as though to further inquire but stopped himself, deciding not to press further, understanding the sensitivity of the topic. Instead, he downed his coffee in one go, before getting up and heading for the door.

"I guess this is going to be an interesting school year."

"You should drop by and see for yourself, show your son some support. We both know you're not as busy as your secretary implies."

Kyouta snorted as he opened the door.

"I'm probably the last person Ryouta wants to see in school."

Kyouta left without another word as Lili sipped her coffee contently.

A small messy head of chocolate hair peeked in from the open door that Lili's former partner had just exited, a curious look on her freckled face.

"What was that about?"

"Just catching up on old times." Lili replied nonchalantly as put down her mug and grabbed her coat, following Kyouta's steps to the door and ruffling the younger girl's hair, an act that earned her an undignified pout. The small girl indignantly tried to return the gesture but could not quite reach Lili's head as she giggled and tiptoed.

"Maybe next time, Rin."

"Quit treating me like a little kid."

"You actually manage to be smaller than Skye, soooo..."

Lili chuckled as she gently poked Rin's nose.

"I leave _Dominion_ in your care. I need to get back to Tokyo."

Rin pouted her thin, cat-like lips and made a sound of childish wistfulness.

"I hate it when both of you are gone. It's so lonely here now."

Lili smiled sadly and patted the girl's head once more.

"This place does seem a lot more empty these days..."

 **Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

 **(Quick note, I will be using both male and female pronouns for Skye depending on who's perspective the portion of writing is from and their perception of Skye's gender)**

 **2 Days Later**

 _ **Semester 1 Begins.**_

 **11:50**

 **4** **th** **Period**

 **Class 1-C2**

 **Module: Mana Engineering (4ME)**

"... And the _Kirin Accelerator Drive_ is the main driving component used in Arcs and anything running on Mana in converting the energy into a usable or weaponized form."

Aya frantically scribbled as much as she could register onto her notebook, determined to see Hashidate-Sensei after class to narrow down the key points that she would need to memorize. According to the student handbook, the top 5 candidates of each cohort at the end of the year had a chance to take a new evaluation, one less focused on raw ability and more on one's ability to learn and adapt, to be promoted a rank. Aya would be damned before she let the chance to join Barto's class slip away from her.

As she finished writing the final Kanji, she set her pen down, one of the few analog forms of writing still in use, and took a quick look around her to find that her enthusiasm was unique to her. Many of the other students of class 1-C2 were engaged in a variety of activities not limited to sword fighting with tablet pens, looking up porn on their PDAs, playing games on their screens, outright sleeping and most disturbing of all, outright lustfully staring and drooling at a certain girl sitting diagonally behind Aya to her left, who had caught the attention of literally EVERYONE when she walked into class. Aya was "strange" in that one, she was actually concerned about her academic well-being, and two, that she preferred old-fashioned pen and paper over digital means as she felt it was more reliable. After all, a notebook won't have a memory card failure.

The stand-in teacher for their usual engineering lecturer, Hashidate Yona, turned from the holo-board to look at her class and sighed. Her ruby eyes narrowed as she pushed her spectacles up her nose as her vision centered in on a certain girl who had not even bothered to put up the backside filter of her holo-screen to hide that she was blatantly watching an anime in class while snacking on a chocolate bar.

Aya follow Yona-Sensei's gaze and found her eyes resting on the extremely beautiful and bored looking girl and found her insecurity building up slightly. There were completely no flaws on her unnaturally elegant face and silky hair, holding a non-exaggerated appearance of a goddess, although Aya felt her spine tingle slightly when she looked into the girl's coal black eyes. She had never seen eyes so dark before, almost like the void of space, and something about them pretty much screamed that the girl had clearly not had the best past. However, Aya did seem slightly baffled at the girl's attire, as for some reason, she was wearing the boy's uniform, albeit in a rather messy way, with the blazer and the top button of her shirt unbuttoned. Aya found herself blushing slightly when she realized that the masculinity of her attire somehow upped her feminine appeal instead.

"Farris-San."

The girl, Skye Farris, as Aya remembered from the introduction period they had at the beginning of the day during their first lesson, did not seem to hear Yona-Sensei's call and did not respond. Aya then noticed the pair of ear pieces plugged into Skye's small, elfin ears.

"Skye Farris-San."

Yona-Sensei raised her voice and was starting to be noticeably annoyed.

No reaction.

By now, everyone in the class except Skye herself had dropped whatever they were doing and all eyes were on the angelic girl, and yet she remained completely oblivious or was deliberately ignoring everyone.

Yona-Sensei finally moved to her own holo-screen, armed with teacher's software before plugging her screen's microphone straight into Skye's audio output.

"SKYE-SAN!" She did not quite scream but it was close enough. Skye's eyes widened as she let out an indignant yelp before losing her balance and causing her chair to fall backwards as she landed on her rear.

Rubbing his head while wincing with one eye closed, Skye looked up to find his teacher with her hands on her hips, frowning at him while unbeknownst to either of them, majority of the class had started leaking blood from their noses.

"Now that you have _decided_ to join us, I don't suppose you could be so kind as to repeat to us exactly how Mana is harnessed into humanity's greatest weapon?"

Skye rubbed his head once more before sighing and getting to his feet, pulling his chair upright as he rose.

"What a pain... Do I really ha-"

"Skye-San. Please." Yona-Sensei's tone was as firm as ever and the class was hushed to silence to watch the "girl" fail miserably and be sent for make-up classes, on the first day of school no less.

Skye sighed and resigned to his fate.

"The original predecessor of the modern Kirin Drive, the Raiki Processor, built in 2113, the same year of _The Flood_ , was reverse-engineered from the surviving research from the Gate, as the prototype generators for the Shields. Originally, there were 15 Shielded regions, but complications in the original processor resulted in only the 7 Sins remaining. It is not clear how the Raiki Processor works without a biomass to provide Mana, but the prototype Kirin Drive was derived from the same machinations drawing from what we know as the Soul, in order to convert our life energy, Mana, into a weaponized form."

The class gaped in awe as Yona-Sensei was left speechless. A perfect summary of her lecture that she was sure the "girl" had paid no attention to.

 _Did she pre-read_ _the material?_

"That's- **ahem** That's correct, well done, Farris-Sa-"

"The system works somewhat like an artificial projector to substitute for the Daemon's ability to naturally harness their Mana as a weapon. Aegis suits are pretty much artificial Daemon bodies with us as the battery and brain. The original Gen-1 Aegis armors ran on MK 3. Kirin Drives, the first stable functional drive, but had major efficiency issues. Even Hazuki Kyouta barely managed the power output of a modern Class C then. Therefore they were forced to rely on training, skill and wits to fight the Daemons. That's why the surviving Gen-1s are so immensely powerful now, with modern technology. The experience and skill born of necessity and desperation, coupled with modern Drives, you get monsters more terrifying than the Daemon Lords. The Battle for Kyoto was a lot more one-sided than the propaganda leads you to believe. It was over before it began."

The entire class blinked with dumbfounded expressions on their faces as Skye scratched "her" ear gently and shrugged.

"My sister was partnered to Kyouta-San in Kyoto. She told me a lot." With that, Skye sat back down with "her" bored expression returned and plugged "her" earpieces back in and hit the play button on her anime as Yona-Sensei gaped with her mouth open and eye twitching, unable to formulate a response before slowly walking back to the to the front of the class to continue her lesson, a mental note never to call Skye out again seared into her mind.

She continued her lesson as best as she could but all eyes bore into Skye's nonchalant and haughty form for the rest of the lesson.

 **Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

 **12:20**

 **Lunch Break**

Aya frantically packed her things into her school bag as she watched Skye casually stroll out of the classroom with "her" hands in "her" pockets and her school bag under her right arm. The "girl" was clearly well-versed in "her" studies despite "her" appearance, and therefore Aya was determined to get "her" to let her study with "her". She not so subtly pushed past the rest of the Platinum students in her class, earning her a few glares, chasing after Skye and reaching out with her hand.

"Fa-Fa-Farris-San! Matte Kudasai! (Please Wait!)"

Skye visibly stopped and half-turned his head to glance at whoever had called his name as he spotted a girl from his class, running towards him, her neck length black bob and straight bangs bouncing from her movement. She wore her uniform prim and proper much like how Rikuo wore hers. Coupled with her hairstyle and being slightly taller than he was, he was reminded of the stereotypical studious girl from every anime ever.

Skye let her catch up to him before turning completely to face her.

"Hai? (Yes?)"

"Ano... Urm, I was wondering if- Urm, that is to say... I was hoping we could..."

The girl stammered as Skye blinked blankly.

Aya mentally slapped herself, cursing her lack of social experience outside of Barto. Even worse, she had decided to finally come out of her shell with quite literally the unexaggerated single most beautiful individual she had ever seen. "Her" beauty coupled with the shockingly distant and almost cold look in "her" hazelnut eyes made "her" seem all the more intimidating. Aya slowed her breath and just barely calmed her nerves, deciding to go by the books and start step by step.

"Urm, sorry to bother you, my name's Rayanne Freth, Aya for short."

Skye smiled sweetly, a genuine one as he could see the effort she was making and it was something he could appreciate, causing Aya to blush profusely as she felt herself melt at the curve of his lips.

"Well, you already know my name but I'm Skye Farris. I'm full-blooded Japanese but my name was given to me by my adoptive sister."

Aya barely noticed something through the honey-coated melody of "her" voice.

 _Boku? (When Skye says "I" or refers to himself, he uses the pronoun boku, which is predominantly used by males but is sometimes used by girls as well, especially tomboys) Ah._

Aya discreetly took note of Skye's dressing once more.

 _So she's that kind of girl._

Aya struggled and managed an awkward smile causing Skye to giggle slightly causing Aya to blush bashfully as he raised his hands apologetically.

"I'm sorry. It's just... Looking the way I do, people don't usually talk to me this genuinely."

Aya's eyes widened slightly at his honest remark as she instinctively gave a small smile, one that wasn't forced.

"Urm, I was wondering, I was hoping you might be able to help me with my studies after that show in class. Er, do you mind if we have lunch together?"

Skye blinked and tilted his head slightly.

"Sure, why not?"

 **xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

 **12:10**

 **4** **th** **Period**

 **Class 1-B2**

 **Module: Basic Tactics and Stratagem (7BTS)**

Izuha sighed for possibly the millionth time as half-heartedly scanned through her lecture notes once more, mentally blocking out her teacher's monotone droning. She recognized most of the material from what her parents had taught her and more importantly, understood the practicality of it. The consequences of growing up in a family deeply rooted in the military. Izuha's heart ached slightly at the memory of her mother before she shoved it back down. Instead, she turned a bored eye to her teacher who she doubted had even seen real combat before.

She turned to take a look at Kara, who had her feet on her desk and was not even hiding the fact that she was blatantly texting her friends, fellow members of her gang no doubt, on her PDA.

Izuha sighed once more, wondering what she had ever done to deserve getting stuck with that Gorilla as her partner and roommate and now classmate.

"Sai tei... (This is the worst...)" She quietly mumbled to herself.

"Psst. Excuse me."

Izuha turned and flinched, actually having to physically shield her eyes from the blinding innocence and naivety that emanated from the tall and athletically built boy with slightly ridged, spikey brown hair. His wide lilac eyes and toothy smile practically screamed of a child-like mindset and Izuha was confused as to how she should react to this.

"Sorry, I'm Barto, Barto Mizutari." Barto spoke with a heavy kansai accent which was not that common these days, since most Japanese of today were descendants of Tokyo natives.

"Hashidate Izuha." Izuha offered cautiously, still unsure of his intentions though feeling at ease from his child-like aura.

"I just wanted to ask, do you mind explaining this to me? The teacher's explanation was pretty dry and no matter how many times I read it, I can't really understand." Barto pointed to a section on his screen which he had turned towards Izuha.

She took a quick look and saw that he was referring to the section on Distraction and Flanking. Not seeing any harm, considering the teacher had not done anything but drone on his monotone lecture despite half the class doing their own activities, she quickly explained a rough outline on how it worked.

"Basically it means having something or someone draw the enemies' attention while the main force splits up and surrounds them while they are distracted, allowing for surprise attacks from multiple sides. Really, the name speaks for itself."

Barto nodded and looked as though he had been given the enlightenment of the Buddha.

"Naruhodo, naruhodo... (I see, I see) Okay, what about this?" He pointed to another section, followed by another as Izuha patiently explained to him what she felt were rather basic concepts. She was slightly baffled how someone as clueless as Barto had become a Diamond student as while she realized she was more advanced when it came to military tactics, she was fairly certain that a lot of what confused him was common sense. However, after a while, she came to realize that it was not the concepts that he had trouble with but the terminology and only needed help with putting names to things he actually understood.

While a part of Izuha felt slightly annoyed and frustrated, much preferring to be left alone and to keep to herself, she was surprised that she was actually quite happy to be relied on, even if it was for something this trivial.

She was in the middle of explaining the mechanics of Kiting when she heard a stern cough from in front of both their tables. Her heart lurched as she slowly turned to find a rather annoyed teacher with his arms folded glaring at the both of them.

 _The entire lesson, he doesn't notice that people have been sleeping, playing games, texting and NOW he decides to notice me helping someone with their work? Fukoda... (What misfortune...)_

"Sai tei..."

 **xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

 **12:32**

 **Lunch Break**

 **Cafeteria**

Skye set his tray down before saying thanks for the meal and taking his first bite from his bowl of Katsu-don. He absently scanned the cafeteria before spotting Rikuo carrying a tray on her own and their eyes met for a moment before she gave a haughty "Hmpf!" and turned away, moving to an empty table on her own. Skye flushed before turning away, pouting, as well.

 _Why the hell is SHE mad, when SHE's the one who violated ME?_

Skye recalled the incident that had occurred this morning when both of them had overslept and were both rushing for the door when they both tripped and landed in rather compromising positions with Rikuo on top of him, her hand plastered onto his chest. Skye turned bright red at the memory and softly slapped his cheeks trying to compose himself.

"What's wrong? I don't remember Katsu-Don being served spicy."

"Yeah, all the flavors and she chose salty..." Skye mumbled to himself. Aya blinked in confusion, her spoonful of rice suspended in mid-air, before Skye shook himself out of his uncharacteristic demeanor and smiled at Aya.

"Sorry, just something left a bad taste in my mouth. So you said you wanted to study with me?"

"Yeah, I really want to get good grades so I can get promoted to Diamond and join my partner and I thought you might be able to help me."

"Ehhh?" A playful look played on Skye's face as he noticed the slight pinkish tint in Aya's cheeks and nose.

"Sounds to me like your partner is more of a _partner,_ hmmm"

Aya seemed slightly confused at Skye's playful expression before completely turning red as smoke erupted from the top of her head as she realized what Skye was insinuating.

"NO! NO! IT'S NOT LIKE THAT! WE-WE-WE'RE JUST CHILDHOOD FRIENDS AN-AN-AND-" Aya desperately tried come up with excuses while her frantic reaction amused Skye even more as he giggled and winked at her.

"Ahaaaa. Don't worry, I'm rooting for you all the way! FIGHTO!" Skye gave her two big thumbs up which only fueled her exasperation as Skye thought about his own partner.

 _Must be nice having a partner you get along with._

Aya finally settled down, although her blush still remained as she pouted.

"Geez. What about you, Skye-San, what about _your_ partner?" Skye replied without missing a beat.

"A restraining order waiting to happen."

Somehow, in the 2 days that Skye and Rikuo had known each other, they had gotten into enough awkward moments to fill a 24-episode ecchi and each time, Skye was on the "receiving" end. He was half convinced that she was doing it on purpose. Moreover, despite their somewhat dramatic first night together, the two would literally fight and argue over everything, like two siblings who hated each other.

Skye closed his eyes and sighed.

"Mendokusai... (What a pain...)"

Aya was once again confused, not quite sure what to make of his words.

The two were interrupted by a commotion going on at the vending machine for food tickets and turned to find a large group of students, who anyone could tell were the "jock and cheerleader squad", circling a boy whom the two recognized as a classmate, pushing him between them and laughing. One of them, who had his bright red hair slicked back in spikes with an obscene amount of hairspray that it shined brighter than the sun had a pair of girls in either of his arms and Skye could tell immediately who the alpha gorilla was. Though no one looked directly at them, almost everyone had their eyes on the scene in sideways glances, hoping that they would not be noticed, and more importantly, no one made the move to help.

"Disgusting."

Aya was rather surprised at the tone of Skye's voice, the usual melodious tone was still there but "her" voice had lowered almost into a growl and it perfectly compared the impassive expression that plastered "her" goddess-like face as she saw that Skye was the only person who looked straight at them.

As though on queue, the lead brute seemingly noticed that someone dared to stare him down and turned in their direction with a scowl on his face which was quickly replaced by a flabbergasted gasp as even he blushed slightly when his eyes were graced by the sight of Skye's face. He spoke some words that the two could not catch to his posse, all the while never letting his lustful gaze never leaving Skye as he released the two girls in his arms who looked at him confused before the group released the Platinum student, who scrambled away into the crowd, before they all made their way towards Skye and Aya's table. Skye sighed and turned away, knowing full well that shit was about to hit the fan.

"Mendokusai..."

 **xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

 _Oh boy, here we go._

Rikuo intently watched the events unfolding before her from the corner of her eye, feigning indifference though her food remained untouched, not that anyone was paying any attention to her with current events unfolding.

It did not take a genius to realize what was happening just by looking at the pathetic Alpha Male pack that now stalked towards her partner like a pack of wolves closing in of delicious prey. He saw that Skye was simply continuing with his food, not even acknowledging the posse that approached him as all eyes in the cafeteria watched them. Despite having not spoken to any student other than Skye since she had arrived, she had overheard the gossip about a gang of bullies from second year Diamonds forming status quo that was 200 years out of style.

Rikuo winced in disgust, somewhat ironic considering she once led a notorious group of hooligans but at least the WVSL had a noble purpose of cleaning up the streets. This was the stroking of over-inflated egos, just because they were semi-decent Aegis Pilots. She was pretty confident none of them would even last a minute in a fight against her.

The obvious "King of the Pride" casually took a seat right next to Skye, an act that clearly made Skye's companion visibly nervous but Skye himself still continued to act as though the brute did not exist.

Rikuo supposed the guy COULD be considered rather good-looking, what with his painlessly styled hair, boy band features and athletic frame. However his obnoxious attitude immediately killed any charm he might have had and sitting next to the goddess named Skye, he might as well be a bag of thrash.

"Well then, what do we have here? I suppose you might have heard of me, Takeru Zino, the Ace of Class 2-B1?"

No response from Skye but a bell rung in Rikuo's head as she recognized the name.

Takeru Zino, The Paladin, known for his skill with his warhammer-based weapon. She'd heard somewhere that he had been a favorite for a promotion to Obsidian after his first year, only failing the promotion as he had been put in detention on the day of the written exam.

"Ehhh..." Rikuo raised an eyebrow and smirked slightly.

 _I guess maybe he'd last a minute and a half._

Zino was visibly rattled at the lack of a response and for a moment, Rikuo had to stifle a laugh as he blinked in confusion, completely caught off-guard and unsure of what to do, clearly not used to being ignored. He coughed to compose himself, resuming his arrogant facade, now taking a more aggressive approach, putting a well-toned arm around her partner, finally gaining a reaction.

Skye stopped his eating straight away, not yet responding but he simply stared straight forward, his expression clearly impassive and un-amused. Rikuo felt her blood boil as she dropped her spoon and turned bright red, her temper flaring as she felt her self-control burn away like a flash fire.

 _HOW DARE HE. FUCKING COCKROACH. HOW DARE HE TOUCH MY GODDESS. (I mean sure we fight over just about everything and I'm pretty sure he hates me and thinks I'm some sort of pervert and I absolutely hate him too but), HOW DARE HE. I'M GONNA TEAR HIS FUCKING HEAD O-_

Rikuo stood up and was about to go over and tear the pig a new one when the most surprising of voices spoke up.

"Urm, ano, sumimasen... (Urm, urm, excuse me...)"

"Huh?" Zino growled at the source of the voice, Skye's shy companion, who gulped and stammered but to her credit, did not back down.

"Urm, could you please let go of my friend? She's feeling quite uncomfortable."

Skye's expression changed slightly, now seeming slightly intrigued, like he found this turn of events mildly interesting, and... Did he look kind of impressed?

Zino blinked once, catching sight of the Division badge on the collar of her blouse before furiously slamming his other fist onto the table.

"HARH?! WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? YOU THINK SOME LOWLY PLATINUM SCUM IS GONNA TELL WHAT TO DO? YOU ARE LESS THAN SOME MONGREL WHO CAME FOR THE WASTES YOU HEAR ME? YOU ARE SHIT! THRASH! GARBAGE! WORTHLE-"

His outburst was cut off so suddenly, it took Rikuo a moment to realize why. His mouth was frozen in the position it had been mid-shout but beads of sweat suddenly trickling from his forehead as his eyes were now wide with terror and shock, plastered on a certain fork that had almost pierced his left eyeball, its teeth stopping just a centimeter away. The rest of his posse had similarly frozen with the same shocked expression on their faces as the entire cafeteria was dead silent. On further scrutiny, she saw that on the other end of the fork were Skye's index finger and thumb, just barely holding onto the tip in a deceptively casual and sassy manner as his cheek rested in his other palm and he looked as bored as ever.

His companion's fear of Zino had now similarly translated to shock and surprise as anyone who knew anything would know that if Skye had moved even slightly more, Zino's eye was as good as gone.

"Just so we're clear. I wear the same badge that she does, and I also came from outside the domes." Skye's tone was neutral but did not lose and of its grace and the fact that it was so calm only added to the intimidation he now emanated. As he finished his sentence, Skye skillfully twirled the fork in his slender fingers before sliding them back down into the bowl, nonchalantly rising to his feet and picking up his tray.

"Let's go Aya-chi. I believe the rooftop would help my appetite."

His companion "Aya-chi" (Aya?) stared at him dumbfounded for a moment before knocking out of her stupor and frantically picked up her own tray, and followed Skye as he turned away with his food and started walking for the door.

"Eh? EEEEHHHH?! AYA-CHI?! Wa-WAIT! Skye-San!"

Rikuo sat back down with a slightly annoyed look on her face as she mumbled to herself.

"Showoff..."

 _Meanwhile, Inner Rikuo: "Ka- Ka- KAKKOIIIIIIII" *_ _ **Eyes Sparkle**_ _*_

However, Zino and his grunts finally snapped out of their trance right as the rest of the cafeteria did, as Zino flared up bright red and steam flared from his nostrils as he now thoroughly resembled a gorilla, humiliation clearly not sitting well with him.

"STOP RIGHT THERE YOU BITCH! I CHALLENGE YOU TO A MATCH!"

Skye stopped in his tracks, his head half turning slightly, as his caramel hair fluttering slightly even at the small movement.

"If I win, you become my bitch, and do whatever I want you to, and I can do whatever I want with you." The disgust this statement brought everyone in the cafeteria was evident as everyone had a clear idea what his intentions were for the beautiful "girl" who had humiliated him. A few even rose from their seats, the goddess's earlier display having started to inspire courage in some.

Rikuo was quite sure that Skye would simply brush off the challenge as unworthy of his time, but instead, Skye gave a sly smile.

"Ehhh... Sounds interesting. Sure. But if I win, you obey every order given to you and act like a dog for a week. If you get told to woof, you woof. If you get told to sit, you sit. Sound fair?"

Zino seemed to hesitate ever so slightly, even though Skye had even limited his terms to a week and it was obvious who was making the more unreasonable penalty. This hesitation was not lost to the caramel-head's razor sharp senses.

"What's wrong? Scared of losing to a worthless, thrash, garbage and shit Platinum Mongrel?" His taunt had the exact effect that he wanted as Zino looked even more pissed off, if that had even been possible.

"Fine then, IF you win, I'll be your dog for a week. Like that will ever happen. I hope you're ready to give all of your body to me." The lust practically dripped from his lips causing even some of his own posse seemed mildly uncomfortable and embarrassed to be associated with him. However, Skye simply raised an eyebrow.

"I think you're confused. I didn't say you were going to be MY dog."

Zino was caught off guard once more as his arrogant smirk got wiped from his face once more.

"You're going to be the dog of every Platinum student in this school."

 **Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"5. 4. 3. 2. 1. BEEEEEEP"

The countdown of the female mechanical voice ended as Ryouta surged forward, his thrusters exploding in a nova of power, propelling him forward faster than the fastest jets of the 21st century as he felt the slight relieving sensation that he felt every time he released his Mana field for Absolute Zone. Usually, thrusters were used exclusively for well-timed propulsions and evasive maneuvers but with Absolute Zone sending his senses into overdrive for anything that entered it, he was capable of inhuman reflexes and maneuvering through obstacles even at high speeds.

The son of the legendary Hazuki Kyouta blitz towards the first of the obstacles, a series of totems positioned sporadically in a random maze-like pattern as he _felt_ the first totem enter his Zone and time seemed to slow to a crawl as he expertly fired a right side thruster that sent the sleek and compact black form of his Aegis spinning gracefully to the left as he felt more totems entering his Zone. Without even slowing down, he skillfully fired off maneuvering thrusters to shift his momentum in an almost liquid fashion as he weaved through the forest of totems, not once reducing the power output of his forward propulsion, clearing the complex maze in barely 3 seconds right into a corridor where a pair of blades extended from each side and started surging towards him. With a smirk, he expertly fired the thrusters on both sides in opposite directions, while simultaneously drawing both his swords from his back and spinning them into reverse grips, feeling his Mana infuse with them as their surfaces started to hypervibrate and ignited in pale electrifying blue light. The reverse firing of his side thrusters threw him into a sideways corkscrew as he cut through the oncoming blades like a saw before spinning through a small rectangular hole in the center of the wall at the end.

Timing the shutoff of his thrusters to stop his spin, he blasted his back thrusters right as he was upright once more, barely stopping him from slamming into yet another wall while simultaneously firing off his altitude thrusters at maximum output, the following explosion in power shooting him upwards like a bullet, grabbing the flag that was sticking out halfway up in the fraction of a second that he passed it, triggering a horn that marked the end of the exercise.

He slowly hovered down towards where the Amatari siblings were standing, as they clapped for his performance while he took a glance at the score screen to see that he had broken his previous number 1 record for time trials at 10 seconds, with even Yukino coming in second at 13 seconds.

He deactivated MidKnight and high fived his partner who smiled smugly.

"So how does it feel to actually be better than me at something?"

"Not as exciting as you think, you cocky hag."

Yukino fumed in over exaggerated fury as she struggled to find a retort at the outrageous insult while Yumiko and Ryouta conversed, completely ignoring her childish tantrums.

"A new best time, not bad, Hazuki."

Ryouta gave a look of mock honor as he looked like he had been graced by the praise of the Queen.

"GASP! I am unworthy of such praise, your royal highness, the great Student Council President!"

"Yeah yeah, maybe I should get Skye to incite a mob again."

Ryouta's smugness all but faded as his expression was replaced by fear and bad memories.

"Okay, okay, Yumi, there are things that we can do and things that cross the line. I will never look at forks and spoons the same again."

Yumi covered her mouth as she giggled, her twin tails bobbing slightly, as her sister's outburst continued to go ignored in the background.

"Kaichou! Kaichou! (President! President!)"

All three Obsidian School Celebrities turned to find the secretary of the student council, Matthew Black, running towards them, a distressed look on his olive face, as he came to a stop right in front of Yumiko.

"What is it, Matt-Kun?"

"There was a... standoff, in the cafeteria, Zino and his gang and a freshman girl they were harassing apparently. I don't know the details, but I only caught sight of them heading to the arena. A duel apparently, but there was no official registration and I figured I should have stopped them but I thought I should come get you first, your word is probably the only one that would stop Zino."

All three shared a look, all already sharing a certain suspicion and Ryouta inquired on their shared suspicion.

"Say, that girl who's mixed up in this. She happen to be short, have light brown hair, looks like an angel, wears the boys' uniform and has an attitude like you wouldn't believe?"

"Well I don't know about her attitude, but yeah, that's what she looks like."

Yukino, Yumiko and Ryouta all shared another look and sighed simultaneously before muttering in sync.

"Skye."

Ryouta then had an amused look on his face.

"Yosh, what are we waiting for? This I have to see. That punk, Zino's been asking for a beatdown for the longest time."

"But Skye's a Platinum."

"Uh huh, and?" Ryouta could not contain his amusement and was grinning sheepishly, like he knew something they didn't and he flashed them a wink. Both Amatari sisters raised an eyebrow simultaneously.

"Well I can't allow unsanctioned battles. As the student council president, I have to ensure that the rules are followed."

The dejected look on Ryouta's and Yukino's faces were almost heartbreaking before Yumiko smiled slightly.

"Soooooo, it'll take me some time to find that megaphone function on my PDA again. Come on let's go."

 **Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Skye ran through the final system check on the school's standard issued Kizuna-Type Aegis that he had been provided, feeling rather uncomfortable in the skin tight shorts and cropped t-shirt that was the boys' standard combat suit. The skin tight outfit hugged his slender and feminine frame and emphasized every curve on his body, while the dark color contrasted with his milky skin to make him seem even fairer, somehow making him seem even more feminine in a suit designed for males.

 _Why is even the male suit so revealing._

Being at the start of the semester, he had barely had time to add in one or two customizations to his liking and the response rate still felt incredibly clunky. Moreover, it was only his second time ever using a Kizuna, the first having been his entrance exam.

 _Whatever. This is enough for that clown._

He turned off the diagnostic screen on his PDA before deploying the suit in the preparation room before Aya came up to him and started protesting.

"Come on, that's enough, Skye-San. But you don't have to do this. I know that guy is a giant jerk but he is actually really strong, I heard that he's even on Obsidian level. Just let it be and call it quits."

"I appreciate the concern, Aya-Chi, but you're worrying too much."

"Is she?" The annoyed and quite frankly pissed voice came as a stark surprise to Skye. He turned to find his partner, Rikuo, leaning against the doorway with a heated scowl on her face.

"Ano... May I ask who you are?"

Aya looked inquisitively at the newcomer, not yet acquainted with the Obsidian top-scorer for their year's entrance exam.

"Just someone who is royally pissed that her partner is about to be humiliated publicly and drag her reputation through the mud as well." (Not that Rikuo's reputation was anything to be envious about)

Rikuo walked up to her partner who looked at her quietly and expressionlessly, though a hint of annoyance could be seen in his eyes.

"But I guess to you, I'd be the Tokisaki Scum." Rikuo made her half-hearted introduction, attention already long gone from the shy girl who was about the same height as her.

Aya's eyes widened as she recognized the last name.

"Tokisaki?! YOU'RE Tokisaki Rikuo?!"

"Domo. (Nice to meet you. This is usually used in a formal manner of introductions)" Rikuo replied sarcastically, about to start yelling at Skye when a fangirling squeal caught both Skye and her off guard.

"OH MY GOD! I'M SO EXCITED TO MEET YOU! YOU'RE LIKE A PRINCESS RIGHT?! AND THE WAY YOU CARRY YOURSELF, IT'S SO REFINED AND CONFIDENT! LIKE A TRUE LADY! OH MY GOD, I CAN'T BELIEVE I ACTUALLY GET TO MEET AN ACTUAL PRINCESS! I CAN DIE HAPPY NOW!"

"HARH?!" Both Rikuo and Skye turned bewildered to the wide-eyed Aya who gazed upon Rikuo practically spitting glitter out of her eyes with a look of pure admiration. Both of them gave a look like they did not know if they should be relieved or disgusted.

 _What the hell is up with this chick?_

The thoughts of both partners echoed one another.

"Hold on, I'm the daughter of Tokisaki Rykatsu. You don't... hate me? Okay, we can talk about this later, more importantly-" Her attention turned to her partner.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing? Do you WANT to be some bottom bitch to some pre-evolved degenerate? What, is this some kind of dumb manly pride of yours?"

 _Manly pride?_

Aya seemed slightly confused at the choice of words, although her fangirl attitude seemed to be ignoring that her refined Ojou-Sama was cussing like a sailor.

Skye simply raised an eyebrow and shrugged.

"Like I'd be bothered with some useless concept like pride and honor. Just how self-righteous do you think I am." He then turned to Aya who was finally starting to wear off her star-struck demeanor.

"And, Aya-Chi. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you seem to be under the misconception that I'm doing this for you."

"Eh?" Aya finally gave a final look of confusion before becoming extremely intimidated as Skye's expression contorted into one that neither of them had seen before and even Rikuo was taken aback.

Skye grinned widely as his eyes widened to the extent that his iris seemed to grow smaller.

"Just thinking about the look on his face when I crush his ego to dust. It turns me on sooooooo much~~~"

 **xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Zino made a show of flexing his armored arms and holding his hammer over his shoulder, smirking as his opponent finally walked out from her prep room. He bellowed with laughter as she almost tripped over herself and looked like a newborn baby learning to walk when she moved in her armor, clearly not used to its calibrations at all. When she finally reached her starting point, he flashed a cruel smile.

"Glad you finally decided to show, I was beginning to worry you ran off on me, and after this huge crowd came to watch you become mine."

He set his hammer down and spread his arms, gesturing at the large audience who had congregated after hearing about the match between the ridiculously new hottie in school and The Paladin, earning him a cheer.

"Sorry about that, I thought I'd give you some time to tuck your tail and run. Go easy on me now, big guy." The new girl, who he had not even bothered to get her name, gave him a sweet smile and winked at him, an action that caused the entire crowd to roar in cheer, public support suddenly being dominated by her in the blink of an eye.

Of course, it was already known that the battle was one-sided with a high-tier Diamond against a Platinum who was on her first day in school. That coupled with the Skye's charm meant that just about nobody was rooting for Zino even though most felt it inevitable that he was going to win.

Zino growled at the passive-aggressive taunt before regaining his composure, deciding not to get worked up, knowing he was going to win anyway. Let her enjoy her little bravado now. I'll teach her humility later.

An impromptu referee started counting down and Zino let out one last taunt.

"Try not to lose too fast. I want to _enjoy_ this." Skye simply smiled in response while Zino moved into a ready position, yet she simply stood as she was.

Zino smiled slightly.

Despite coming off as a musclehead, Zino had not gotten as good as he was by pure brute strength alone. When it came down to it, under all his facade was actually a secretly intelligent individual who fought shrewdly, using his dumb jock demeanor to mislead his opponents.

 _As I thought, she probably thinks I want to toy with her. She probably has some trick up her sleeve for her to be this confident._

Despite everything, Zino never underestimated his opponents, and he knew even with the overwhelming difference in skill and power, Skye was no fool. She would never have accepted the challenge without knowing she could win. She was probably relying on his arrogance to cause him to toy around with her, leaving him open for her to catch him off guard with some sort of trick.

 _Sorry. But things aren't gonna go quite as planned for you little miss._

As the countdown hit zero, Zino shot forward, his hammer poised to strike, as he rapidly closed the distance, rewarded with a shocked and suddenly frightened expression on Skye's face, confirming his suspicions and filling him with glee. He watched the girl desperately try to dodge but could not get the armor to move as she wanted and remained a sitting duck, her eyes wide with fear as she realized she had messed up big time as Zino closed in on her. Zino started bringing the hammer down as her eyes started to water slightly.

 _Nice try, maybe after I'm done with your body, I'll give a few poin-_

A flash.

Zino was suddenly blinded by a bright blue light before he felt his armor go completely limp, not responding to his movements at all as he sailed past Skye's form before crashing into the ground with enough force that his shield rippled slightly and its energy bar had a small chunk removed. He finally came to rest on his back just in time to see Skye's face shrouded in the shadows of her hair, revealing only her lips which suddenly curled into what he decided then was the most terrifying grin he had ever seen. Suddenly filled with panic, he desperately tried to move his limbs but could not get any of his armor to respond before he felt his shield rumble as Skye stepped her right armored foot on it, pointing the Mana submachinegun in her hand directly at his face before he noticed a pair of charred cylinders expelling blue smoke get ejected from her armor's elbows.

"Sa. (Now then) Don't lose too fast. I want to enjoy this."

 **Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Reinbo eagerly exited the school building after his lessons, intent on spending his remaining hours of the day at the greenhouse when he noticed a cold breeze, ruffling through his multi-colored hair as he stopped and turned to look towards the orange sky of the setting sun, his expression now unreadable as his lips pursed and the slit in his pupil dilated ever so slightly.

"Things are starting to move."

 **Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

 **23:44**

 **Army of Wrath, Firebase Romeo**

 **Outskirts**

 **Ruins of Seoul, South Korea**

Lance Corporal Mitsuki Juuzo, Class B Arc, yawned as he scanned the desolate landscape of decaying concrete and steel around him for the 500th time that patrol cycle. The destruction and rot left in the wake of the Daemons' incursion had made it so that even overgrowth would not grow over the ruin and thus everything remained a shade of gray and covered in dust and ash. Juuzo turned to find his squad of 2 Class As, 4 Class Bs and 1 Class C rookie, similarly bored and lackluster, with the exception of the rookie, Private First Class Kuroya Hinata who seemed a little jumpy. Sighing in exasperation, Juuzo opened a direct and private comm link to her.

"Hey, rookie."

Hinata visibly jumped and yelped slightly and Juuzo shook his head, wondering what the brass was thinking deploying what were essentially high school kids as soldiers. It was true that an Arc's prime was between 13 and 30 but still, Hinata had barely turned 18 upon her graduation from the Osaka academy. She was still just a kid. Not that Juuzo was much older at 21 but he'd only been assigned combat duty when he was 20. Then again, the area they were in rarely ever saw combat and only ever in the form of small skirmishes with the lesser rodent types that seemed more like exterminator duty.

"Hai, Mitsuki-Senpai!"

 _Senpai. When is she going to shake the school mentality?_

"Look, for the 10th time, I'm only a Lance Corporal. You can drop the honorifics and you can call me by my first name. Also, lighten up. This area hasn't seen any real action in almost a decade."

Hinata still seemed nervous but visibly relaxed a little as she turned and gave him a wry smile, a pink blush on her cheeks.

"Hai. Thank you, Mitsu- Juuzo-San." Juuzo blushed himself upon seeing how cute she was with her straight bangs and aqua eyes, turning his gaze away before she noticed.

It was then that he noticed a crouched figure sitting amongst the ruin. Suddenly tensing up, he called out to his squad who all halted as he zoomed in with the magnification on his Heads Up Display, seeing that the figure was in fact an Arc.

The mysterious Arc wore a snow white armor, its pieces extremely compact and small, fitting to the wearer's small body, which was completely covered in a black full body suit, fitting more like regular body armor than an Aegis. The armor was curved and seemed to glow with pale blue markings all over it and a pair of white protrusions extended from its shoulder blades at 45 degree angles to each side while the figure's face was covered by a full black helmet with a polarized visor. The figure was leaning back on their hands while their feet dangled over the edge of a piece of rubble, like a little girl on a dock with her feet in the river, a behavior that led Juuzo to assume the Arc was female, in addition to her small and feminine frame.

He reported his findings to the squad leader, who called it into the base.

"Firebase Romeo, this is patrol. We've come across an unidentified Arc, there supposed to be anyone out here today?"

Juuzo could not hear the response, and instead privately called for Hinata to stick close to him and follow his lead if things went bad. As Hinata moved closer, Juuzo froze as the figure turned her helmet ever so slightly towards them and even through the polarized visor, Juuzo could feel her eyes staring into him. And the feeling that Juuzo now felt was that of when a rabbit was about to fall prey to a wolf, as the figure tilted her head ever so slightly.

"Firebase Romeo! Firebase Romeo! Come in! What the hell is going on over there?!"

The Captain's slightly frantic calls jolted Juuzo back to attention as he tuned into the base channel only for his ears to be assaulted by a mixture of gunfire, lasers whizzing around, screams of pain and static.

"Un-r A-t-ck!" Was all he could make out before he heard a scream of fear and agony that cut out to nothing but static.

 **Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

The White Reaper, Nagisa, watched emotionlessly as the soldiers started to panic and simply waited until her own message came as _her_ voice echoed fluidly and melodiously in her head.

"It's time, Nagisa-Chan."

That was all she needed to hear.

 **Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Juuzo barely had time to register the white appendages on the figure's back erupt in blue light as numerous light blue blades sprouted under them, spread like wings of pure light.

"Hinata, get behin-" That was all he managed before the figure seemed to _ripple_ out of existence, before suddenly reappearing right next to Juuzo, who now gaped in shock, with her armored arm extended. Juuzo turned to find her gauntleted hand plastered to the top of Hinata's head, with her fingers spread around the top, as the rookie girl widened her eyes in shock and fear as she realized that the snow white Arc before her had punched through her shield like paper with just her hand.

"Juuzou-Sa-" Before she could finish, her head was violently torn from her neck as blood spurted out painting Juuzo's armored arm in red and sizzling off his shield as he heard sparks when splinters from her shattered spine ricocheted off his shield. Juuzo gasped and stared wide eyed at the lifeless face of the former rookie, her eyes rolled back into her head and her mouth still shaped in her unfinished words.

The white Arc nonchalantly tossed her head aside as though it were a piece of thrash as the corpse of his junior crumpled to the floor. His entire squad did not even have time to ready their weapons yet. Shaking off the shock and making way for the grief and pain, Juuzo's face contorted in pure rage and agony as he swiftly pulled out his blade to strike at the assailant.

"YOU FUCKING BASTARD!"

However, all he hit was plain air as the white Arc had rippled away and seemed to teleport yet again, the first indication being the cry of pain from one of his comrades. He turned to find her other hand shot all the way through the chest of a fellow soldier tearing through the back armor like butter before she allowed the next body to crumple. She casually turned her head back to Juuzo, even as the rest of his squad shouted and started to aim towards her.

A glowing supernova exploded in a crescent arc from her right wrist, upwards towards her shoulder. That icy blue blade was the last thing that Juuzo ever saw.

 **Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

 **23:50**

 **Army of Wrath, Firebase Romeo**

 **Lazarus Secret Aegis R &D **

**Ruins of Seoul, South Korea**

The pair of remaining Arcs still alive fled into the labyrinth of tunnels in the research base, making for the core research facility where they could activate the self-destruct and blow those monsters to hell. The base had been attacked out of nowhere and as far as they could tell, they had been attacked by human Arcs. But these Arcs had seemed different, they did not even know how many assailants there were but those they had seen were easily at least Class S. Everyone else on base had been massacred in minutes.

The pair boosted around the tunnels finally reaching the chamber, before one heard the cry of pain of the other and turned around to find her companion skewered on a blade of red. Red from his own blood. When she looked closely, she noticed the area in front of him seemed to be slightly "watery" before a ripple of electricity travelled across the displacement of light, causing an Arc clad in jet black armor that seem to smolder red with plate like armor materialize before her, a cruel smile spread across his lips and his dark hair fell to his brow and jawline in spikes.

"Hora, hora, (hey, hey) you gotta watch where yer goin." He chimed in a sadistic voice with a heavy kansai accent. The remaining Arc watched as the life drained from her partner before the assailant cocked his head towards her and grinned at her.

"And where do ya think yer goin, honey?"

The Arc's eyes widened and she shrieked before turning to escape. She barely heard the massive boom before she was instantly bisected by a massive crater that erupted in her abdomen, ending her life instantly.

The smile faded from the dark Arc's face as he turned to the source of the blast with a rather annoyed expression.

"Yo, it's not cool to steal my kills, Yoshino."

The individual in question, Yoshino, stepped out of the darkness, clad in a magenta armor that was much heavier than her companion's and covered much more of her body. Most distinguishing of her armor's features would be the pair of massive cannons mounted on the extended shoulder plates of her armor. She casually tucked a lock of semi-permed lilac hair behind her ear, and pushing her straight bangs into their usual left side parting. She then looked into her partner's coal eyes with her own dark emeralds.

"This isn't a game, Haru. Come on, the others are cleaning up, we just need to deactivate the barrier." She replied flatly before making her way to the chamber's control panel, quickly deducing the controls for the base's specialized and mini version of a Shield, one that only reacted to Daemon signatures and allowed humans to pass. Not that they were fully human but it read them as such all the same. She quickly triggered the deactivation procedure and the countdown started, an automated warning announcing its deactivation.

"Geez, you and Nagisa're the same, ya two are never any fun." Haru pouted at his adoptive sister, before letting the long dead Arc slide from his blade.

"I think Nagisa has too much fun." Yoshino replied in monotone.

"Exactly. And she never leaves any for the rest of us." Haru made his way to join her before her started and positioned himself for combat when a loud crash sounded next to him and he whirled around ready to slaughter the threat, only to find it was already dead, in the form of 2 dead Arcs, crumpled on top of each other, neither corpse having its full set of limbs and both mutilated beyond recognition.

"You missed a couple." A playful voice was distorted by both her helmet and a voice changer as Haru looked up to find Nagisa slowly hovering down to the ground before skipping playfully up to them. Because of how stupidly strong she was, all her siblings tended to forget that Nagisa was in fact the youngest of them all at the age of 12, and nearing 13.

"Ya seem awfully cheerful."

"Mmhmm, I got to see a rather special look of despair today. It totally made my body go suuuuuuuuuper hot." Nagisa twirled around on her tiptoe and Haru made a face. Every member of The Forgotten were messed up in some way, but even by their standards, Nagisa was frightening.

Haru was about to reply when the countdown hit zero and the Shield generators shut down and in less than a second, a cold breeze exploded into the chamber and all three Forgotten lit up like christmas trees. Even Yoshino who never showed emotion smiled slightly.

The sound of talons on concrete echoed into the chamber as the imposing figure of the Daemon Lord, no, even greater, ArchDaemon, Belladonna stepped in, smiling warmly at her children. Nagisa in particular jumped up and down as though seeing her mother after school.

"Onee-Sama!"

Nagisa ran as her armor simultaneously de-materialized into its quantum storage as her small figure clad in just a skin tight body suit that left her hands and feet exposed, leapt into Belladonna's form as the latter opened her arms and warmly embraced the youngest of her Forgotten, gently caressing the young girl's maple hair as she knelt and rubbed her cheek into the tiny girl's hair, having retracted all of her body's blades so that her body now quite resembled that of a human woman, save for her scales, bone wing-like appendages and glowing amber cat's eyes.

"Hi there, my dear Nagisa-Chan."

"How DARE you defile Belladonna-Sama with your filthy touch you mongrel!" The voice came from Belladonna's entourage, Eizen, who unlike Belladonna, held deep resentment and hatred for the half-breeds. Before he could continue or even react he was suddenly slammed into the ceiling with one of Belladonna's wings extending to skewer and spear through him, pinning him up there faster than even Nagisa's eye could register. Eizen coughed as he felt the agony of the wing twisting inside his shoulder.

"I'll only tell you once more, Eizen. Speak to my children like that one more time, you won't even realize that you're in pieces." Her voice was calm but that calm did nothing to diminish the malice in her voice, much like the object of her obsession. After finishing, she retracted her wing to its normal state and let Eizen fall to write on the ground in pain while Nagisa peeked over her shoulder and stuck out her tongue childishly.

Belladonna then turned to her older children.

"How did it go? Any problems?"

"Cake-walk, Onee-Sama. What do yer take us for?" The Forgotten were the only ones on the planet who could speak so cordially with the ArchDaemon. She simply smiled and propped Nagisa up on her shoulder before moving to rub both Haru and Yoshino's heads, smiling warmly at them and causing them both to blush.

"Great work. I know I can always count on you guys. Come on, let's claim our prize and go home."

The group or rather, "family" walked towards the vault together before Belladonna effortlessly tore the heavy vault doors off with her wings, revealing a set of 8 pure white Aegis armors, all of unfamiliar designs and with experimental markings.

Haru whistled softly.

"So this is it, huh."

"Yup, the Gen 8s. Just like _his._ A few upgrades and modifications here and there, and you guys can customize them however you want, and they'll be yours. Now then." Belladonna gently set Nagisa down next to her siblings before crouching before them, like a parent, an action that Eizen struggled to hold his tongue about.

"After we get back and you get used to your new toys, I have a few things I need you to do for me, Nagisa-Chan." Nagisa's void colored eyes lit up in glee at the thought of being relied upon by her beloved Onee-Sama.

"What about us?" Haru and Yoshino both looked hopefully to Belladonna who chuckled slightly.

"You two? You two are going to school."

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 **Okay Okay, I know I promised I'd respond to reviews this chapter but I'm seriously worn as hell after going all out on the "short" chapter. I swear, it was meant to be short, then I kept trying to put more and more plot progression in to get the party started. I won't make you guys wait till the next chapter for me to reply to reviews so I'll just wait a few days for this chapter to get reviewed then I'll reply altogether hahaha**

 **Well then.**

 **Ja Ne~~~**


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